Child Poverty Highest in Bulgaria, Romania

Romania are the countries where EU member states where children are at greatest risk of poverty and social exclusion, the European Parliament (EP) states in a press release.

More than one in four children in Europe are at risk of poverty and social exclusion, according to the latest research of the bloc's statistics body, Eurostat, carried out among all 28 EU member states.

Romania tops the list with 51% of children there exposed to a risk of poverty, followed by Bulgaria (45.2%).

After a report calling on EU countries to make children a priority in their policies, MEPs will meet in plenary on Monday, November 23, to discuss ways to deal with the issue.

Votes are expected on the following day.

However, the recent figures of Eurostat show that in Europe, the number of children in risk and problems of malnutrition is growing every year.

According to Eurostat, about 26 million children (anyone under 18) were at risk of poverty and social exclusion in 2014. This represents 27.7% of all children in the EU.

Other countries with high levels of child risk of poverty and social exclusion are Hungary (41.4%), Latvia (38.1%), Greece (38.1%), whereas the percentage is much lower in countries such as Denmark (14.5%), Finland (15.6%), Sweden (16.7%).

Under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, all children should be guaranteed the right to education, health care services, housing, leisure and a balanced diet.

This urges national governments and the EU to combat the problem as soon as possible.

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