→ The largest decreases were mostly in countries that had the highest levels of deprivation in 2015. The rate of deprivation in Bulgaria fell by 22 percentage points, from 42 per cent in 2015 to 20 per cent; while the rate in Hungary fell by 18 percentage points. → Nevertheless, there were also substantial proportional decreases in several countries that already had rates of deprivation below the EU average in 2015 – Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Malta, Poland and Slovenia. → Six countries – Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia and Portugal – reduced their deprivation rates from above the EU average in 2015 to below it in 2021. Figure 17. Children living in severe material and social deprivation, EU, 2015 and 2021 Children in households in severe m aterial and social deprivation (%) 45 Sources: See Technical Appendix 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 Bulgaria Romania Greece Hungary Lithuania Italy Latvia Ireland Portugal Slovakia European Union 27 countries (from 2020) Spain Malta Cyprus Poland Belgium France Croatia Czechia Germany Slovenia Austria Luxembourg Denmark Estonia Netherlands (Kingdom of the) Finland 0 Sweden 5 2015 2021 Thus while there has been slow progress in reducing relative income poverty across the EU as a whole, there are positive signs that children’s household living conditions are improving substantially. It should be noted, however, that these gains were primarily made between 2015 and 2019, when the EU average fell from 11.8 per cent to 7.5 per cent. Since that year, deprivation rates have fluctuated and progress has stalled.31 This concludes our analysis of trends in monetary and non-monetary child poverty in OECD and EU countries in recent years. The picture is mixed, with evidence of substantial reductions in some countries and for some indicators, alongside missed opportunities in others. The full implications of the current series of crises for child poverty are, as yet, unclear, and the picture will only materialize in years to come. Some indications can be gained from predictive analysis, and an example of that approach is illustrated in Box 3, which assess the likely impact of the ongoing cost-of-living crisis on child poverty ‘in real terms’ in EU countries. 31 Child Poverty in the Midst of Wealth Innocenti Report Card 18