More than a fifth of the country’s population is at risk of poverty or social exclusion, according to a report by the Hellenic Statistical Authority (Elstat) on income and living conditions in 2010.

The “at risk of poverty” indicator identifies all those (households or people) who fall below a certain income threshold, which in the EU has been set at 60 percent of the median income.

According to the survey, the poverty threshold for individuals is 7,178 euros and 15,073 euros for households with two adults and two dependent children below the age of 14.

In actual numbers, this fifth equates to 597,868 households with more than 2.2 million members.

But when the category of “households with low labour intensity” - where family members have worked no more than two months of the year - is considered, the number of those living at risk of poverty or social exclusion is even higher: encompassing 3.03 million people.

This leaves Greece with 27.7 percent of the population living below the poverty line or socially excluded. In the European Union, only Bulgaria, Romania, Latvia, Lithuania, Hungary and Poland have higher rates.

Moreover, the wealth gap between the richest and poorest remains large, with the richest 20 percent of the population enjoying an income 5.6 times greater than the poorest fifth of the population.

This means Greece is the seventh most unequal in terms of income distribution in the European Union, following on Lithuania, Spain, Latvia, Romania and Bulgaria.

The survey also found that one in four people who are poor live in inadequate housing, while 27.8 percent of the population not deemed poor say they have difficulties in coping with housing costs.

The research also shows that 23 percent of children under 17 years of age live in risk of poverty, a rate three points higher than for other age range. The rates for other groups are: Unemployed women (40.0 percent), single parent households with at least one dependent child (33.4 percent) and households with one adult aged 65 years and over (30.1 percent)

The survey in numbers:
•20.1% - the percentage of people deemed at risk of poverty, up from 19.7 on the previous year
•597,868 - estimate of the number of households living below the poverty threshold, encompassing 2,204.800 people
•23% - the percentage of children aged 0-17 years at risk of poverty
•21.3% - percentage of people aged over 65 estimated to be at risk of poverty
•3,030,900 - the number at risk of poverty or social exclusion
•544,800 - the number of people living in households with no member in full- or part-time employment. Up from 488,200 on the previous year