Slovakia has set itself a target to protect at least 170,000 people from poverty or social exclusion by 2020, with the figure already standing at 161,000 people. This was revealed in a survey presented by Minister of Labour Ján Richter (Smer-SD). However, the survey also shows that Slovakia is fighting against entrenched forms of poverty and social exclusion involving selected groups, including large regional disparities and structural problems within the labour market. At present, the poverty risk or social exclusion rate in Slovakia is below the EU average. In 2016, Slovakia achieved a level of 18.1 percent, with an average EU figure of 23.8 percent in 2015.
Gavin Shoebridge, Photo: TASR
