The European Parliamentary Research Service has published, in March 2017, a research briefing analyzing the mains drivers of rural poverty and social exclusion in the EU and the European policies and instruments to fight it.

The report presents statistics on rural poverty compared to urban poverty. Overall, in the European Union, people living in rural areas are more likely to be exposed to poverty and exclusion risk. Numbers show that rural poverty is slightly higher in rural areas (25,5% compared to 22,1% in towns and suburbs) with very contrasting situations across the continent as some countries (like Romania and Bulgaria) display a huge poverty gap between rural and urban areas. “In western countries, rural poverty seems to be concentrated in remote regions”, says the report.