Freezing in Winter Due to Lack of Money

Even before the outbreak of war in Ukraine and subsequent energy crisis in Europe, Germany's Federal Statistics Office estimated that 2.6 million people in the country could not adequately heat their homes in 2021, for financial reasons. People living alone and those in single-parent households are affected more often than average.

Looking across the EU though, Germany wasn't even close to the worst affected country. On average, around seven percent of the EU population are too poor to heat their homes properly. This problem is particularly pronounced in Bulgaria, where almost a quarter of the population is struggling. At the other end of the spectrum is Finland, where only 1.3 percent have to freeze due to a lack of money. While significantly fewer people were affected there in 2021 than in the previous year (9 percent), an increase is expected again in 2022 in view of the energy crisis resulting from the Russian attack on Ukraine.