A third of European Union citizens in 2007 could not cope with spending they had not planned for, seven per cent were late with utility bills, nine per cent could not afford a car and nine per cent could not afford a computer.
 
This is according to Eurostat, the European statistics service, drawing on figures in its EU Statistics on Income and Living Conditions survey. The figures, obviously, predate the financial and global economic crisis that took hold around the last quarter of 2008.
 
In the 27 EU member states in 2007, seven per cent of people lived in a household that had been unable to pay on time utility bills for their main dwelling in the past 12 months and three per cent in a household that had been unable to pay either rent or mortgage payment.

More than half of the population in Latvia and Hungary (both 63 per cent) and Poland (54 per cent) lived in a household that was unable to afford unexpected expenditure.

On the other hand, only a fifth or less of the population lived in such a household in Sweden (18 per cent), Denmark (19 per cent) and Portugal (20 per cent).

The highest shares of the population living in households that had been in arrears with utility bills were found in Hungary (18 per cent), Poland (17 per cent), Greece (16 per cent) and Slovenia (11 per cent).

The highest shares of the population living in households that had been in arrears with either rent or mortgage were found in Greece (seven per cent), France and Cyprus (both six per cent).

Nine per cent of the EU population lived in a household that could not afford to buy a car .

In 2007, 80 per cent of the EU27 population lived in a household that possessed a car, nine per cent in a household that could not afford one and 11 per cent in a household that had other reasons not to possess a car.

The highest shares of the total population living in a household that could not afford a car were registered in Romania (56 per cent), Latvia (30 per cent), Slovakia (24 per cent), Hungary (23 per cent), Estonia (21 per cent) and Poland (20 per cent), and the lowest in Cyprus and Luxembourg (both two per cent), France, Italy, Malta and Slovenia (all three per cent), Spain and Sweden (both four per cent).

Among dependent children, 86 per cent lived in a household that possessed a car, nine per cent in a household that could not afford a car and four per cent in a household that had other reasons not to possess a car.

In all EU member states, the percentage of dependent children who lived in a household with a car was significantly higher than for the total population, Eurostat said.

Nine per cent of the EU population lived in a household that could not afford to buy a computer. In 2007, 68 per cent of the EU27 population lived in a household that possessed a computer.

The highest shares of the total population living in a household that could not afford a computer were in Romania (43 per cent), Latvia (24 per cent) and Poland (21 per cent), and the lowest in Denmark, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Sweden (all two per cent), Germany, Malta and the United Kingdom (all four per cent).

In the EU27, 81 per cent of children lived in households with a computer, 10 per cent in households that could not afford one and eight per cent in households that had other reasons not to possess a computer.

According to the Eurostat statement, figures for Bulgaria were not available.