Poverty on the rise in France, Spain and Britain, EU report shows

France, Spain and Britain registered some of the biggest increases among European Union nations in poverty indicators, the bloc's statistical agency said on Wednesday, citing 2010 data, dpa reported. Eurostat said it had looked at how many people were either at risk of poverty, severely materially deprived or living in households with very low work intensity' in each EU nation. In Spain, figures jumped by 2.1 points, to 25.5 per cent, compared to 2009. In Britain the percentage rose by 1.1 points, to 23.1%; in France it increased by 0.9 points, to 19.3%. The only other two countries which posted significant increases were Lithuania (+3.9 points to 33.4%) and Slovenia (+1.2points to 18.3 per cent). In austerity-stricken Greece, figures were largely unchanged at 27.7% (+0.1 points), while in Italy - a country on the verge of a debt crisis - they fell 0.2 points to 24.5 per cent. The EU average was 23.4%, up 0.3 points from 2009. But in Germany, the bloc's biggest economy, the index fell 0.3 points to 19.7%