Slovenian households had a harder time making ends meet in 2022 and around 252,000 people or 12% of the population lived below the poverty line, official statistics show.

The share of households that experienced little or very little financial difficulty dropped to 24%, down by four percentage points compared to the year before, according to the Statistics Office.

A one-week holiday away from home was financially accessible to 80% of households, the same share as the year earlier. However, heating and housing-related costs became more burdensome.

The proportion of respondents who had it hard or very hard getting through the month on their income rose by two points to 16%. Making ends meet posed some trouble for 30% of households and 31% got by relatively easy.

The share of households that did not experience financial hardship was the highest in central Slovenia and in the western region of Goriška, at 29%. It was the lowest in the northern region of Koroška, at 16%.

One out of four households reported that housing-related expenses were a large burden. This is three percentage points more than in 2021. Some 17% felt that housing-related expenses were not a burden at all.

Most households, 82%, reported that their home was in good condition last year, which is two points up from 2021. 96% of households could afford heating. This is two points fewer than in 2021.

Slovenia's at-risk-of-poverty rate last year was 12.1%, 0.4 percentage points higher than in 2021. The threshold was at €827 per month for a one-person household, up from €771 a year earlier.

The at-risk-of-poverty rate is one of three indicators of social exclusion, the other two being a very low work intensity rate and a severe material deprivation rate.

Around 277,000 people or 13.3% of the population were at risk of social exclusion. This is 0.1 percentage points more than in 2021.

The very low work intensity rate increased by 0.2 percentage points to 3.8%, while the rate of severe material deprivation decreased by 0.4 percentage points to 1.4%.