Poverty

Risk of poverty linked to childhood household situation

Published

2 years ago

October 28, 2024

In 2023, 20.0% of adults aged 25 to 59 in the EU, who reported having a bad financial situation in their household around the age of 14, were at risk of poverty, compared with 12.4% of those who described their household’s financial situation at that age as good.

This data shows that socio-economic and financial situation during the teenage years might affect the standard of living in adulthood.

This article presents just a handful of findings from a more detailed Statistics Explained article on intergenerational transmission of disadvantages.

Adults at risk of poverty and their childhood financial situation, 2023, % of population aged 25 to 59, by financial situation of the household when respondent was around 14 years old. Chart. See link to full dataset below.

Source dataset: ilc_igtp04

At the national level, Bulgaria reported the largest disparities in the risk of poverty considering the childhood financial situation of the household: 48.1% of those who reported bad financial situation in their household around age 14 were at risk of poverty, compared with14.4% of those who reported a good financial situation. Romania showed similar figures, with 42.1% and 14.6%, respectively. Italy followed with 34.0% compared with 14.4%.

In contrast, Denmark was the only country where adults who lived in financially disadvantaged households did not face a higher risk of poverty later on: 8.5% for those from households with bad financial situation against 8.9% for those with good financial situation. The differences between the 2 groups were also small in Slovenia (10.9% and 10.4%) and Finland (10.1% and 9.2%).