Lithuania’s at-risk-of-poverty rate increased to 22.6% in 2025, up 1.1 percentage points from a year earlier, with around 653,000 people living below the poverty-risk threshold. The strongest deterioration was recorded in rural areas, where the rate rose to 33.4%, while people aged 65 and over remained the most exposed group at 39.2%. Social transfers continued to play a major stabilising role, cutting the overall poverty-risk rate from 31.1% before transfers to 22.6% after them. Importantly, the 2025 poverty indicators are calculated using residents’ 2024 incomes, so the figures reflect last year’s income structure rather than current 2026 conditions.
Data card
- At-risk-of-poverty rate: 22.6% (+1.1 pp y/y)
- Population below poverty-risk line: ~653,000
- Poverty-risk threshold: €699/month for one person
- Poverty-risk threshold for family of four: €1,468/month
- Rural poverty-risk rate: 33.4% (+4.0 pp)
- Poverty risk among 65+: 39.2% (+2.3 pp)
- Average old-age pension in survey period: €596.7
- Pension vs poverty-risk line: 85.4%
Absolute poverty
- Absolute poverty rate: 7.0% (+1.2 pp y/y)
- Population below absolute poverty line: ~202,000
- Absolute poverty threshold: €446/month for one person
- Rural absolute poverty rate: 11.9%
- Working-age absolute poverty rate: 9.0%
Context
The Lithuanian data point to a widening gap between headline income growth and the social position of lower-income groups, especially rural households and pensioners. For the Baltic region, this is a useful signal: even where nominal incomes rise, poverty indicators can worsen when thresholds move up faster than the incomes of vulnerable groups.