Those at risk of poverty after social transfers made up 21.7 percent of the Estonian population in 2016, compared with 19.5 percent in 2008. Residents severely materially deprived made up 4.7 percent of the population, and those living in households with very low work intensity or households where adults worked less than 20 percent of their total work potential during the past year amounted to 5.8 percent.

The national at-risk-of-poverty threshold in Estonia is an annual disposable income of €5,187 for a person living alone, and €10,892 for a household of two adults with two children under 14 years of age.

In 2016, 117.5 million people, or 23.4 percent of the population of the European Union were at risk of poverty or social exclusion. This means that they were in at least one of the following three conditions: at risk of poverty after social transfers, severely materially deprived, or living in households with very low work intensity.

After three consecutive increases between 2009 and 2012 to reach almost 25 percent, the proportion of persons at risk of poverty or social exclusion in the EU has since continuously decreased to 23.4 percent in 2016, only 0.1 percentage points above the 2009 low point.

In 2016 more than a third of the population was at risk of poverty or social exclusion in three member states: Bulgaria with 40.4 percent, Romania with 38.8 percent, and Greece with 35.6 percent. At the opposite end of the scale, the lowest shares of persons being at risk of poverty or social exclusion were reported in the Czech Republic at 13.3 percent, Finland at 16.6 percent, Denmark at 16.7 percent, and the Netherlands at 16.8 percent.

The ratios for Latvia and Lithuania were 28.5 percent and 30.1 percent, respectively.