DISINFO: More residents in the EU facing risk of poverty than in other places
SUMMARY
More than 20% of EU residents are at risk of poverty, according to data from the European Statistical Office (Eurostat). But guess who’s doing just fine?
RESPONSE
This disinformation narrative is a disingenuous attempt to distort the EU’s economic reality by portraying it as a poverty-stricken region. While the quote from the Eurostat report is correct, the figure of 21% of the population refers to people at risk of poverty or social exclusion. At the same time, this disinformation story includes one sentence –“Guess who is doing just fine?”- to suggest that other unmentioned countries, possibly Russia, have much better rates.
However, the metrics for actual poverty -severe social and material deprivation (SSMD)- show a very different picture. The latest official figures for Europe (2023) are significantly lower (6.8%), which is much less than the rates for China (17% in 2021, expected to fall to 10% for 2025 according to the World Bank), the US (12.9%) and Russia, whose official figures are 9.3% (for 2023) but which is almost certainly higher at around 12.5%. EU figures are also lower than those for most economic powerhouses throughout the world, such as Indonesia (9.36%), Brazil (27.4%), Mexico (36.3%), South Africa (63%) or Nigeria (38.9%), just to name a few.
This is also a recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about Europe’s economic collapse, part of what some experts have labelled Russia’s economic war propaganda, which aims to convince audiences about Russia’s economic superiority and the futility of sanctions while ignoring actual data and facts about the EU’s massive economic capabilities.
See other examples of similar disinformation narratives, such as claims that the EU may soon fall into complete disarray, that EU citizens will eat worms due to anti-Russian sanctions, that Europe would go broke helping Ukraine if the US withdraws all support, that the EU faces up to €1 trillion loss over cutting Russian gas, that Europe is committing energy suicide without Russia, that instead of crushing Russia, sanctions led to US debt and Europe’s freezing, or that according to the Draghi report, EU faces economic difficulties due to rejection of Russian energy.