EU households' ability to handle unexpected costs improves slightly in 2025
A smaller share of people across the EU is unable to cover unexpected financial expenses in 2025, pointing to a modest improvement in household financial resilience. The indicator remains highly uneven across member states, while separate safety data show wide differences in homicide rates across the bloc.
Highlights
- Eurostat reports 29.2% of the EU population in 2025 cannot cope with unexpected expenses, improving slightly from 30.0% in 2024.
- Greece, Latvia, and Bulgaria register the highest shares of population unable to manage unexpected costs at 50.5%, 43.7%, and 42.4%, respectively, while the Netherlands posts the lowest at 15.3%.
- Lithuania records the highest police-recorded homicide rate in 2024 at 2.63 per 100,000, but also achieves the largest decline since 2014, with the rate more than halving.
Eurostat data show mixed security picture across the EU
As reported by Eurostat, 29.2% of the EU population in 2025 is unable to cope with unexpected financial expenses, down slightly from 30.0% in 2024. The figures highlight continued pressure on household budgets even as the bloc records a marginal improvement from the previous year.At country level, Greece records the highest share, with 50.5% of the population unable to manage unexpected costs. Latvia follows at 43.7% and Bulgaria at 42.4%, while the Netherlands posts the lowest share at 15.3%, ahead of Malta and Czechia, both at 18.7%.
Financial resilience and physical safety remain key quality-of-life measures
Eurostat says the ability to handle unexpected events can strengthen a sense of safety and influence quality of life. Alongside economic security, which includes covering surprise expenses and keeping up with regular payments, physical safety remains another major component, including protection from crime and violence.In 2024, Lithuania records the highest rate of police-recorded homicides relative to population size at 2.63 per 100,000 inhabitants. Latvia and Estonia follow with rates of 2.40 and 1.82, respectively, while Luxembourg records the lowest level at 0.30, ahead of Italy at 0.57 and Czechia at 0.63.
Lithuania also posts the biggest decline in homicides over the longer term, with its rate more than halving since 2014. The figures suggest that, while some member states continue to face elevated safety or financial stress indicators, long-term improvements remain possible.
We recently wrote about Europe's macro policy debate over balancing inflation control, debt management and investment for resilience.
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