|national AROPE rate|32.2<br>19.9|15.9<br>34.4|
|---|---|---|

Note: Percentage of individuals (using survey weights). AROPE rates of 2022 are not anchored to 2019, as in Figure 1 and Figure 2. Children are defined as those younger than 18 and elderly, those 65+. Social aid is defined as those households that report incomes from social assistance captured in the SILC survey by social exclusion not elsewhere classified. This captures households receiving the main poverty-targeted programs (mean-tested) as well as other mean-tested programs. Households with social aid cannot be identified as a vulnerable group in the Romania EU-SILC. Pensioners are defined as those receiving old-age benefits. Statistics presented are unconditional AROPE means. Since households with disabled members cannot be identified in the EU-SILC surveys, we use as a proxy those receiving disability benefits.

Source: Own estimates based on 2022 EU-SILC. We report the survey year and not the income year. AROPE definition based on EU2030 target.

**Multidimensional poverty is also higher among individuals who are deprived of other life domains, such as education, health, and housing, particularly in Bulgaria and Romania.** The AROPE rate for individuals living with household heads who have only achieved primary education<sup>45</sup> doubles the national rate in all countries (Table 5). This is also the case for individuals living in families with unmet medical needs and in overcrowded houses<sup>46</sup> in Bulgaria and Romania (i.e., in countries with higher overall AROPE rates). These results shed some light on the potentially close relationship between being at risk of poverty or social exclusion and being deprived in additional dimensions apart from those included in the AROPE indicator.

|**Table 5.**AROPE rates for individuals living in households with other deprivations (%) by country|
|---|
|(2022)|

|**other deprivations**|**Bulgaria**|**Croatia**|**Poland**|**Romania**|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|education: household head with only|||||
|primary education|70.1|43.2|33.3|65.2|
|health: at least one adult with unmet|||||
|medical needs|54.1|29.4|18.3|61.6|
|housing: overcrowded house|66.8|21.9|22.1|63.0|
|national AROPE rate|32.2|19.9|15.9|34.4|

Note: Percentage of individuals (using survey weights). AROPE rates of 2022 are not anchored to 2019, as in Figure 1 and Figure 2. Statistics presented are unconditional AROPE means. A person lives in an overcrowded house if the average number of people per room available to the household is greater than two. A person is deprived in health if at least one adult (16+) in the household has unmet needs for medical examination or treatment.

Source: Own estimates based on 2022 EU-SILC. We report the survey year and not the income year. AROPE definition based on EU2030 target.

**The socio-economic and family profile of the multidimensionally poor is significantly different from the profile of the non-poor across all countries, with Bulgaria presenting the largest differences between the poor and non-poor.** Table 6 shows the profile of the multidimensional poor (AROPE) vs. the non-poor (non-AROPE). On average, people living at risk of poverty or social exclusion are significantly more likely to be female and older (except in Romania). Household heads in these households tend to be less educated, unemployed, retired or inactive.<sup>47</sup> In

> 45 The proportion of individuals living in households where the household head has achieved at most a primary level of education are as follows: Bulgaria: 22.9%, Croatia: 19.4%, Poland: 8.0%, Romania: 26.6%.

> 46 Between 68% (Croatia) and 78% (Romania) of individuals living in an overcrowded house are families with 5 or more members, indicating that a non-trivial proportion of these individuals belong to less numerous families.

> 47 The share of inactive female household heads ranges between 44% (Croatia) and 49% (Romania) for the AROPE individuals and between 48% (Poland) and 53% (Croatia and Romania) for the non-AROPE.

20