Where Europeans Can't Afford To Heat Their Homes

Across Europe, many families struggle to keep themselves warm during the long and dark winter months. The severity of the problem varies significantly between countries with some faring better than others. According to Eurostat, 39.2 percent of Bulgarians could not afford to keep their home adequately warm in 2016. As grim as that sounds, it does represent a huge improvement on ten years ago when around 70 percent of people had to endure the bitter cold of winter.

Large shares of the population in Lithuania and Greece also struggle for warmth in the winter, along many countries with economic problems in southern Europe. Poland is an interesting example on the list with 7.1 percent unable to afford proper heating. Judging by the fact that the share was 28.4 percent in 2006, steady progress has been made. Luxembourg and Finland are the countries with the lowest shares of people lacking a warm home at just 1.7 percent each.