Countries of the World: europe

Albania is widely considered one of the poorest countries in Europe with 800,000 of there 3.2 million people surviving on less than two dollars a day.

Andorra is a small but wealthy nation located between Spain and France in the Pyrenees mountains. They have become much wealthier thanks to European Integration and have a low inflation rate of -0.9 % as of 2015.

Poverty amongst children in Austria has shown that those that are not in poverty are not prone to smoke or be bullied while those in poverty suffer bullying and smoke. Those in poverty do no have as many skills and resources as their riches counter parts do.

Belarus after the collapse of the Soviet Union was insecure poverty, but thanks to long time president Alexander Lukashenko's policies this statistic has dropped 90%. Belarus also does not pay much to those unemployed with only 12 Ruble vs. neighboring Poland's $200 zloty.

Poverty in Belgium is at about 15.9%, but European indicators place this rate closer to 20.9%. Those 0-17 seems be the most effected compared to older generations, and this is attend across much of Europe.

Bosnia has worked to reduce poverty since becoming independent from Yugoslavia, but by 2011 there rate stagnated and still sits as the second largest in Europe after Bulgaria. Though the average income was higher in the 1980's than it was in 2007.

Bulgaria has the highest poverty rate and at risk poverty rate at 41.3%. Bulgaria suffers this due to corruption in the country along with small pensions and a long transition from Communism.

As a recent member to join the European Union; Croatia is working to lower its poverty to meet 2020 standards. The coast where ethnic Croats live is in the single digits for poverty while areas effected from the Break up of Yugoslavia have rate from 42-70%.

Cyprus's poverty rate is increasing from 23.3% in 2008 to 27.7% in 2016. This is thought to be caused by the drop in disposable income from €16,000 Euros to €14,000 Euros.

Czechia has transitioned well from Communism to into the European Union as it boasts the lowest inflation rates (2.4 %) EU in 2017. These days it is still the lowest in persistent poverty rate and overall poverty rate.

Denmark has been voted the happiest nation in the world for there free education and health care to the high minimum wage. However, poverty has been on the rise in the past decade at 17.7% in 2015 compared to 16.3% in 2008.

Estonia has worked hard to join the European Union and NATO, but still suffers from poverty stemming from its days under the Soviet Union. However, the rate at which children live in poverty dropped from 2.5% in 2017 to 1.6% in 2018.

Finland has one of the world's lowest inflation rates at .8% and at the same time one of the highest tax rates at 53%.Finland attributes its lack of poverty to being a welfare state and making sure all citizens have enough money to survive.

In France about 9 million of the 66.99 million people live in poverty equalling to roughly 13.5% poverty rate. Many of these people are women, children, and foreigners make up a sizable population.

Germany is considered the economic powerhouse in Europe, but poverty exists thanks to Stalin and his iron curtain. East Germans on average makes 80% of what West Germans make. This leads to more poverty in the Eastern parts of Germany.

Greece has gone through a tough recession in 2004 leading to unemployment reaching 28% in 2012, and a youth unemployment rate of 35.4%. Huge debts owed to Germany has lead to 95% of Greeks today they feel poor or struggle financially. Only 23.2% are in poverty as this statistic has been stagnate since 2011-2015.

Hungary's poverty rate sits at 17.7%, but with earning below poverty rate, living in a state of deprivation,and working poor has one expert saying that the poverty at almost 47% of Hungarians affected.

Iceland is known for its impressively low poverty rate sitting at about 6,000 people out of the 332,000 making about a 2% poverty rate. This was not the case in 2007 when 80% of the markets value collapsed, but thanks to a tourism boom and Icelandic government debt relief the country thrives.

Ireland has a poverty rate of 18% with 790,000 people in poverty. This includes 250,000 children and another 105,000 people who are working while in poverty.

Italy had a tough year with poverty as 300,000 more people found themselves on the streets. Roughly 12% of Italians live in poverty with 5,000,000 people in total.

Latvia has struggled due to being at a crossroads of different empires like Germany, Russia, Sweden, and Poland. They suffer from losing their brightest minds, and those who stay find themselves involved with alcohol, reckless behavior, and suicide. This has lead to their annual average income being about 14,600 USD.

Liechtenstein is another small nation located between Switzerland and Austria on a map. They have very little poverty at 0.5%, and the whole country could be rented $70,000 a night.

Lithuania has a high poverty rate of 30.1% in 2016. This rate has rose 1.8% since 2008. They currently have the fourth highest poverty rate in the European Union.

Luxembourg is a smaller nation with a low unemployment rate of 5.9% compared to the European Union average of 10.4%. However the rate for non-EU workers was at 20%. Their poverty rate sits at 19% which is large for such a small country.

Macedonia struggles with poverty as ethnic groups clash within their own borders. The ethnic minority of Albanians have help to make tensions higher. The 9.1% poverty rate, low crime, and 19.7% unemployment rates do help the economic situation. They also struggle with Greece of cultural rights to Alexander the Great and have not been able to join the European Union.

Malta has the lowest levels of at risk poverty for under 18 year olds at 4% in 2004, and the rest of the European Unions 25 member states sit at 8%. Malta sat at 6% in 2000 and attributes the success to 67% of minimum wage jobs having a pay raise.

Moldova fall from Grace as one of the Soviet Unions richest states to Europe's poorest in 20 years. They suffer from being landlocked, and a break away country on their Northern border known as Transnistria as they attempt to hold on to their Communist roots.

Though Monaco speaks French the word they do not have the word poverty their dictionary. They are the only country in the world with no poverty.

Montenegro has faired well since the collapse of Yugoslavia in the 1990's with a low poverty rate compared to their neighbors at 8.6%. Some issues still exist like Women's unemployment rate at 17.3%.

The Netherlands currently have 2.5 million people living below the poverty line. This places the poverty rate at 14% of the 17 million Dutch residents living within The Netherlands.

Norway has a small poverty rate of only 10% according to the EU standards, but is likely lower than that. Norwegian citizens benefit from a slew of social programs helping them to not become impoverished.

Poland's poverty rate has decreased significantly since the early 1990's. This is thanks too the policies of the Communist party being loosened to enable economic growth. This trend also lead to an economic rise in terms of real income.

Portugal does suffer from a lot of poverty. They have a 19% poverty rate and a 14.8% unemployment rate which is why many youth are not employed as the debt of Portugal mounts.

Romania is losing population fast shrinking from 22.8 to 19.6 million people from low birth rate and Romanians leaving the country to work in more prosperous EU member states. These issues have lead to those left in Romania making less as the most educated move away for a better life.

Russia has always had a problem when it came too poverty as even in the days of the Communist Soviet Union people were poor. Now Russia has nearly 20 million in poverty making up about 13.8%.

San Marino is a micro state and one of the oldest in the world from 301 AD. It is surrounded in Italy, and was hit hard by the economy crisis of 2009. They have since lowered their unemployment rate from 9.3% in 2013 to 8.5% in 2015, but to put things in perspective the United States has an unemployment rate of only 4.7% in 2016.

Serbia's poverty rate is a lot worse the farther south you go. The areas on the Kosovo and Macedonian borders where ethnic tension is greatest. 24.5% of the population of Serbia is at risk for poverty as of 2013.

Approximately 12.4% of the population is at risk for poverty in Slovakia. This was a slight decline from 12.7% of the population the previous year. This decline brought 20,000 people out of poverty.

Slovenia was lucky as after they broke away from Yugoslavia peacefully they were also able to join the EU and NATO. There at risk poverty rate is decreasing and currently stands at 13.9%.

Spain has a lot of debt currently, but also has a lot of economic growth. With this they still have a growing poverty rate. Cities like Sevilla suffer from child poverty reaching 40%.

Sweden has a fast growing poverty rate due to the migrants who have been given asylum there by the Swedish government. These people make up the vast majority of those who are below the poverty line. From 2008 to 2016 the poverty rate rose from 13% to 16%.

Switzerland is unlike much of Europe they have been neutral for the last 200 years and refuse to join any major alliances or international organizations until recently like the United Nations in 2002. Currently there isolation policy has worked well for themselves as only 1 in 13 Swiss citizens suffer from poverty.

European Turkey known as Thrace is the connecting point between the Black Sea to the Mediterranean and also separates the Balkan Peninsula and Europe from Asia. Turkey as a whole has a poverty rate of 25.6%.

Ukraine remains poor from the fact that since the end of the Soviet Union they have been in Russia's shadow. They have the lowest monthly income of any European country.

Roughly a fifth of the United Kingdom is in poverty with it rising at an alarming rate. This along with pensions drying up leaves an uncertain future at the UK attempts to exit the European Union.

The Vatican City is the smallest country in terms or both population and area. There population consists of those who work for God, The Pope, and the Catholic Church. The pope has even take-in the poor tasty in the Vatican on numerous occasions.