Severe material and social deprivation means experiencing an enforced lack of at least 7 out of 13 deprivation items, e.g., capacity to being confronted with payment arrears, spending a small amount of money each week on oneself, or having regular leisure activities that cost money.
Material and social deprivation rate still was notably higher among people with the lowest income (belonging the bottom or the first quintile group), however severe material and social deprivation in this group became lower and fell to 18.0 % in 2023 (annual decline of 4.3 percentage points). The indicator was calculated based on a self-perceived situation, and a small proportion (0.6 %) of the richest population (belonging to the top or the fifth quintile group) believed that are experiencing an enforced lack of several material and social deprivation items.
A majority of the population (59.9 %) believed that they experience an enforced lack of at least one out of 13 deprivation items (58.1 % in 2022).
