Almost a quarter of Malta’s population is at risk of poverty or social exclusion, according to Eurostat figures published yesterday.

The EU’s statistics office said the number of people at risk of poverty or social exclusion in Malta grew by 20,000 since 2008, reaching 24 per cent of the population last year. In 2008, the number stood at 80,000.

This means such people are facing at least one of the following three conditions: at risk of (income) poverty, severely materially deprived or living in households with very low work intensity (where adults are working at below 20 per cent of their potential).

Cutting the number of people at risk of poverty and social exclusion in the EU is one of the key targets of the Europe 2020 strategy.

At a strategy meeting of the Malta Council for Economic and Social Development last May, it was already clear the country would not meet its goal on poverty.

100,000

– the number of people at risk of poverty in 2013

Malta committed to reducing the number of people facing poverty by 6,500 by 2020.

Instead, the figure has increased by three times that amount so far.

On every measure, Malta fared worse than in 2008, particularly in relation to those severely materially deprived, who increased from 4.3 to 9.5 per cent.

Those who are classed as severely materially deprived are unable to afford to pay their bills, keep their home adequately warm or take a one-week holiday away from their home.

The percentage of those at risk of poverty in Malta is slightly less than the overall percentage in the EU, which stands at 24.5 per cent.

Countries faring worse than Malta are Bulgaria, Romania, Greece, Latvia and Hungary.

The lowest numbers of people at risk of poverty in member states were in the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Finland and Sweden.

There are more than 120 million people in the EU who are at risk of poverty or social exclusion.