Romania has the highest poverty rate in the European Union among employed people and records a big gap between the rural and urban areas, high above the European average, according to a Government document.

The poverty or social exclusion rate amounted to 40.2% in Romania in 2014, compared to 24.4% at EU level, reports local Profit.ro. In the same year, the poverty rate among employed people in Romania reached 31.3%.

In rural areas, the social exclusion rate totaled 55% in 2014, compared to 27.9% in the urban areas. In the European Union, the gap between the poverty rate in rural and urban areas is only 3 percentage points.

In February, the Government came up with 47 measures to combat poverty, including grants to improve homes, social canteens, and increasing the people’s digital literacy.

editor@romania-insider.com