publish time

17/10/2022

author name Arab Times

publish time

17/10/2022

BRUSSELS, Oct 17: In 2021, there were an estimated 95.4 million people in the European Union at risk of poverty or social exclusion which was equivalent to 21.7 percent of the total population, said EU Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights Nicolas Schmit on Monday evening. "A really frightening figure," he told the European Parliament on the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty.

According to the United Nations figures, more than 700 million people - or 10 percent of the global population - still live in extreme poverty, he noted. "With the European Parliament we are working on combatting homelessness which is a form of extreme poverty affecting more than 700,000 people in Europe," he said.

This year about five million children have already died from poverty in the world. "Today on the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty more than 11,000 children will have died from hunger, absence of healthcare, and disastrous living conditions," he added (KUNA)