Being severely materially deprived is defined by Eurostat as not being able to afford at least four items considered by most people to be desirable or necessary for an adequate life, namely: paying bills on time, keeping your home warm, facing unexpected expenses, eating meat (fish, or vegetarian equivalent) regularly, taking a one-week holiday away from home, or owning a TV, washing machine, car, or phone.
The overall severe material poverty rate in the EU stood at 6.2% in 2018, down from 6.6% in 2017 and 9.9% in 2012. Single adult households are most affected - the rate stands at 13.2% across the EU for households with a single adult and children, compared to 5.7% for households with two or more adults with children.
The lowest rate of severe material poverty is found in Sweden (1.1%) followed by Luxembourg (1.2%) and the Netherlands (2.4%) - though it should be noted that only 2017 data was available for Sweden and Luxembourg. The highest rates are found in Bulgaria (20.9%), Romania (16.8%), and Greece (16.7%).
Luxembourg's development has been relatively stable. The lowest rate registered by Luxembourg in the Eurostat dataset was in 2010, when the rate stood at 0.5% - which is also the lowest rate registered by Any EU country between 2010 and 2018.
The overall development since then has been:
2011 - 1.2%
2012 - 1.3%
2013 - 1.8%
2014 - 1.4%
2015 - 2.0%
2016 - 1.6%
2017 - 1.2%
