17 percent of EU residents below poverty line

BRUSSELS: The European Union says 17 percent of its residents were living below the poverty line in 2008, with the highest rates in Latvia and Romania, which have been badly hit by the economic crisis.

It says people in relative poverty live on less than 60 percent of average income in each country, which can vary widely. The poverty figure covers the European Economic Area — the 27 EU countries plus Norway, Liechtenstein and Iceland.

Some 26 percent of Latvians, 23 percent of Romanians and 20 percent of Greeks, Spaniards and Lithuanians were living below the poverty threshold in their countries, it says.

The EU says a tenth of Europeans cannot afford to warm their homes and 9 percent cannot afford to eat meat every second day.