First European Quality of Life Survey: Income inequalities and deprivation (summary)

Fahey, Tony; Whelan, Christopher T.; Maître, Bertrand

Overview

Report summary

First European Quality of Life Survey: Income inequalities and deprivation (summary)

Published: 21 December 2005

Tony Faheyand 2 other authors

Social inclusion

Pay and income

Inequality

Income security and economic well-being have a huge bearing on people’s overall quality of life. Recent enlargement of the European Union has reshaped the contours of the economic landscape in Europe, resulting in a widening of the gap between the richest and poorest countries. A recent Foundation report explores quality of life from the point of view of income inequalities and deprivation. This paper is a short summary of the main findings of the report.

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Reference no.

EF05163

Research report

11 October 2005

First European Quality of Life Survey: Income inequalities and deprivation

The recent enlargement of the European Union has changed the context within which poverty and social exclusion in the Member States is understood and has highlighted the need for an expanded approach to these problems. Enlargement has widened the gap in living standards between the richest and poorest Member States: median household income in the richest EU states such as Denmark and Germany is three to four times greater than in the poorest Member States, such as Latvia (Eurostat, 2004).