Convergence and social cohesion
Upward convergence is of utmost importance for the European Union project. For given economic and social indicators, upward convergence means that Member States are on average improving their performance by moving towards a policy target or a societally acceptable direction, while they are reducing the disparities among them. In this way, the lower performing countries are catching up towards the best performing ones, while both are growing.
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16 October 2025
16 September 2025
This policy brief assesses upward convergence across the EU since the 2017 European Pillar of Social Rights (EPSR) proclamation. Using the headline indicators of the Social Scoreboard and applying Eurofound’s convergence framework, which is grounded in scientific literature and the most commonly used statistical measures of convergence, the analysis examines the key dimensions of the EPSR. The results show that significant progress has been made in core labour market indicators, such as employment and unemployment.
However, challenges remain. Improvements have been rather limited in reducing overall poverty and housing cost burdens. Divergence is evident in areas such as basic digital skills and household disposable income, indicating widening disparities. Critically, indicators in fundamental areas such as the disability employment gap and self-reported unmet needs for medical care show concerning downward trends. Furthermore, the analysis reveals that, despite aggregate improvements, inclusive growth has not reached all socio-demographic groups, with vulnerable groups experiencing widening relative disparities. The findings offer crucial insights for the new EPSR Action Plan and the upcoming Porto Social Forum Summit in September 2025.
August 2026
About Convergence and social cohesion
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Highlights for Convergence and social cohesion
This is a selection of the most important outputs for this topic.
25 April 2024
The political dimension of social cohesion in Europe
This report investigates the political dimensions of social cohesion in Europe, offering a 20-year perspective derived from 10 rounds of the European Social Survey. It scrutinises trends and regional variations in political participation, examining correlations with levels of institutional distrust and discontent. In addition, the report explores political engagement amid the COVID-19 pandemic, utilising insights from the Living, working and COVID-19 e-survey. Unemployment emerges as the primary driver of political disengagement, a pivotal finding of the analysis.
Furthermore, the report uncovers significant disparities in political engagement across European regions. Regions with well-educated populations tend to exhibit higher levels of political activity, and economic prosperity and migration rates have only a modest influence on political activity.
The report also highlights the variation in institutional distrust across regions. Nordic countries display markedly lower levels of distrust in their institutions than continental countries, whereas in eastern European and Mediterranean countries levels are markedly higher.
2 August 2023
Green, clean and keen to converge? A convergence analysis of environmental quality of life in the EU
This report explores the dynamics of the environmental performance of the EU Member States and the extent to which the disparities in their performance have narrowed since the early 2000s. The report is a product of cooperation between Eurofound and the European Environment Agency, with the technical expertise in convergence of the former meeting the expertise in European environmental issues of the latter. It focuses on three levels of analysis: headline indicators, residential-level indicators and household-level indicators. In order to explore the multifaceted issue of environmental quality of life in the EU, the report investigates environmental indicators through a convergence analysis. The results suggest that the EU is on the right track to becoming carbon neutral, although the speed of the greening process varies among the Member States. A fast and steady improvement in performance can be seen for most of the indicators. One noteworthy finding is that the economic downturns of the past two decades negatively affected the household-level indicators examined, which focused on energy poverty.
24 January 2023
Economic and social inequalities in Europe in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic had varying impacts on social groups, depending on existing disadvantages, and it was widely believed that it triggered a rise in inequalities across different areas of life. Using indicators from the EU’s Multidimensional Inequality Monitoring Framework (MIMF), this report shows how inequality in the spheres of income, health, employment and education changed between 2010 and 2020. It also examines the main drivers of this change during the pandemic and explores the relationships between government policies in several domains and inequality.
Experts on Convergence and social cohesion
Researchers at Eurofound provide expert insights and can be contacted for questions or media requests.
Eleonora Peruffo
Research officerEleonora Peruffo is a research officer in the Social Policies unit at Eurofound. She works on topics related to upward convergence and social cohesion in Europe. During 2021–2022, she provided data analysis for the European Working Conditions Telephone Survey (EWCTS). She joined Eurofound in 2014 and has worked on topics related to restructuring, employment and digitalisation. She holds an MA in Diplomatic Sciences and International Relations awarded by the University of Trieste and an MSc in Computer Science - Data Analytics from the National College of Ireland.
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