For Slovenia, the foundation highlights the lower than average share of children and the young at risk of poverty or social exclusion and the low dropout rate among students in higher education.

Sweden, followed by Denmark and Finland are Europe's socially most just countries. Slovenia comes right after Luxembourg and ahead of Estonia, while Bulgaria, Romania and Greece are found at the bottom of the index list.

The average social justice index for the EU in the study, which looked at poverty, education, employment, health, inter-generational justice as well as social cohesion and non-discrimination, is 5.46, while Slovenia's is 6.28.

It stresses that children and the young have been affected worst by the crisis.

Slovenia has escaped some negative trends here, with the share of children and the young at risk of poverty or social exclusion standing at 17.5%, which is below the 20.4% share for the general population. The study stresses that in most EU members those under 18 are at higher risk than the general population.

Also praised is the early school leavers rate for 18 to 24-year-olds. It stands at slightly above 4% in Slovenia, whereas the EU average is slightly over 11%.