20 million children in the European Union are among those at risk of poverty or social exclusion.

Omissions

• The exact Eurostat child-specific figure for the most recent year (2024) is 19.5 million, not 20 million; the MEP rounded up by 0.5 million (about 2.6%).
• A 2025 child-specific AROPE figure was not yet published in Eurostat's 'Children at risk of poverty or social exclusion' article at the time of the session (data extracted 7 May 2025, planned update October 2026); only the total-population figure for 2025 (92.7 million, 20.9%) was available.
• The claim presents the figure without the trend context: the share of children at risk of poverty or social exclusion in the EU declined from 24.8% in 2023 to 24.2% in 2024.

Sources

• PrimaryEurostat news article – '24% of EU children at poverty risk or social exclusion'In 2024, 19.5 million children in the EU were at risk of poverty or social exclusion. This figure represented 24.2% of children under the age of 18, down by 0.6 percentage points (pp) from 2023 (24.8%).
• PrimaryEurostat Statistics Explained – 'Children at risk of poverty or social exclusion'In 2024, 24.2% of children aged less than 18 in the EU were at risk of poverty or social exclusion compared with 20.3% of people aged 18 years and over. [...] Between 2023 and 2024, the percentage of children at risk of poverty or social exclusion in the EU slightly decreased from 24.8% to 24.2%. (Data extracted on 7 May 2025; planned article update: October 2026.)
• PrimaryEurostat news article – '20.9% of people at risk of poverty or social exclusion' (2025 reference year)In 2025, 92.7 million people in the EU (20.9% of the population) were at risk of poverty or social exclusion). Compared with 2024, the number of people at risk decreased by 600 000 persons (from 93.3 million or 21.0% of the population).
• SecondaryUNICEF European Union – 'The State of Children in the European Union 2024'Almost 1 in 4 children within the EU are at risk of poverty and social exclusion – a staggering 20 million children across 27 EU member states. [...] since 2019, the number has increased by almost one million to 20.7 million in 2022.