Ojämlikhet

Att minska ojämlikheten för EU:s medborgare och främja uppåtgående konvergens i levnadsvillkor står högt upp på den politiska agendan för Europeiska kommissionen. Drivkrafter bakom ojämlikhet kan vara kön, ålder, funktionsnedsättning, anställningsstatus och medborgarskap, med konsekvenser för lön och inkomst, tillgång till välfärd, hälso- och sjukvård och utbildningstjänster.

Businessman helps homeless youth

Nytt och kommande

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Artikel

15 September 2025

A picture of wealth inequality across EU Member States
Carlos Vacas‑Soriano

Wealth inequality across EU Member States has important implications for access to education, healthcare and housing, as well as for people’s ability to actively participate in society.

This article summarises some of the main findings from the recently published report Unequal wealth: Exploring socioeconomic disparities across the EU. It maps wealth inequalities across EU Member States by drawing on data from the European Central Bank’s Household Finance and Consumption Survey (HFCS), covering the period between 2010 and 2021.

Forskningsrapport

15 September 2025

Unequal wealth: Exploring socioeconomic disparities across the EU
Zsolt Darvasand 3 other authors
Wealth inequality is not just an economic issue but a societal one. Ownership of assets can have significant implications for access to education, healthcare, housing and political influence. This study examines wealth inequality trends across EU Member States, using data from the European Central Bank’s Household Finance and Consumption Survey and covering 2010–2021.
Artikel

29 October 2024

A snapshot of income inequality and middle class across the EU
Carlos Vacas‑Soriano
After years of being sidelined in the European policy debate as labour markets recovered in the wake of the Great Recession, inequality is back on the agenda following the COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing cost-of-living crisis. A widespread public perception is that inequality is growing while the middle class is shrinking. This article presents a more nuanced picture: income inequality in the EU as a whole has declined due to strong income convergence between the Member States; changes in income inequality across these countries are mixed, increasing in about half of them and declining in the other half; and the middle class shrank in almost two-thirds of Member States since 2006.

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Höjdpunkter för Ojämlikhet

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29 October 2024

Artikel

A snapshot of income inequality and middle class across the EU

After years of being sidelined in the European policy debate as labour markets recovered in the wake of the Great Recession, inequality is back on the agenda following the COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing cost-of-living crisis. A widespread public perception is that inequality is growing while the middle class is shrinking. This article presents a more nuanced picture: income inequality in the EU as a whole has declined due to strong income convergence between the Member States; changes in income inequality across these countries are mixed, increasing in about half of them and declining in the other half; and the middle class shrank in almost two-thirds of Member States since 2006.

24 January 2023

Forskningsrapport

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.

20 December 2021

Rapport från flaggskeppsinitiativet

Monitoring convergence in the European Union: Looking backwards to move forward – Upward convergence through crises

Upward convergence lies at the heart of the EU project. Member States and their citizens sign up to be part of the Union, as they expect their membership will lead to balanced economic prosperity and social progress across countries. Increasing disparities between Member States, as happened during the 2008–2013 economic crisis, could be seen as a betrayal of the EU’s promise, and potentially lay the seeds for discontent and disintegration. This flagship report is the culmination of Eurofound’s research into monitoring convergence in the EU, which was initiated in 2017. It describes the shifting dynamics of upward convergence over the period 2008–2019, explores the short-term impact of COVID-19 on European economies and societies, together with its implications for convergence, and discusses the long-term effects of the pandemic and the future of upward economic and social convergence in Europe.

9 May 2021

Annan

Living, working and COVID-19 (Update April 2021): Mental health and trust decline across EU as pandemic enters another year

The third round of Eurofound's e-survey, fielded in February and March 2021, sheds light on the social and economic situation of people across Europe following nearly a full year of living with COVID-19 restrictions. This report analyses the main findings and tracks ongoing developments and trends across the 27 EU Member States since the survey was first launched in April 2020. It pinpoints issues that have surfaced over the course of the pandemic, such as increased job insecurity due to the threat of job loss, decline in mental well-being levels, erosion of recent gains in gender equality, fall in trust levels vis-à-vis institutions, deterioration of work–life balance and growth of vaccine hesitancy. The results of the survey highlight the need for a holistic approach to support all the groups hit hard by the crisis in order to prevent them from falling further behind.

30 March 2021

Forskningsrapport

Wealth distribution and social mobility

This report explores the distribution of household wealth in the EU Member States and analyses the role of wealth in social mobility. Using data from three datasets (the Household Finance and Consumption Survey, the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe and the Luxembourg Wealth Study), it focuses on wealth per household member. Wealth composition is compared across social groups and countries, and the role of housing assets in wealth distribution and negative wealth is assessed. The findings show that parental background, including parental wealth, has an impact on educational and wealth mobility. In order to promote equality of opportunities in terms of access to education and housing, the impact of wealth inequalities, including differences in parental wealth, should be counterbalanced. The report also suggests that regularising wealth declaration in the EU could be a way of promoting social justice by minimising hidden wealth and combating tax evasion.

10 December 2019

Policy brief

A more equal Europe? Convergence and the European Pillar of Social Rights

The European Pillar of Social Rights is designed to act as a compass for a renewed process of upward convergence among Member States towards better working and living conditions. It is accompanied by a Social Scoreboard to monitor the progress made by Member States. This policy brief presents the results of an investigation into the upward convergence patterns of the headline indicators of the Social Scoreboard and the relationship between convergence and the business cycle from 2008 to 2018. The results show that although the economic crisis that engulfed Europe from 2008 slowed down the convergence of Member States on some indicators, upward convergence on several has been restored, including the indicators on employment and risk of poverty. While the analysis uncovers different dynamics of upward convergence for most indicators, some very stable and some more unstable, few indicators still show a downward trend over the decade.

Experter om Ojämlikhet

Eurofounds forskare tillhandahåller expertis och kan kontaktas för frågor eller mediefrågor.

Tadas Leončikas

Head of Unit
Employment research

Tadas Leončikas är chef för sysselsättningsenheten vid Eurofound sedan september 2022. Dessförinnan var han forskningschef vid enheten för socialpolitik, där han ansvarade för den europeiska undersökningen om livskvalitet (EQLS) och utvecklade Eurofounds enkätforskning. Sedan han började på Eurofound 2010 har han arbetat med olika ämnen, bland annat undersökningsmetoder, livskvalitet, social rörlighet, social inkludering, tillit och bostadsbrister. I sin tidigare karriär ledde han Institutet för etniska studier i Litauen där han arbetade med studier relaterade till situationen för etniska minoriteter, migranter och andra utsatta grupper. Som forskare har han tidigare samarbetat med Europeiska unionens byrå för grundläggande rättigheter, FN:s utvecklingsprogram och International Organization for Migration. Han har en doktorsexamen i sociologi.

Massimiliano Mascherini

Head of Unit
Social policies research

Massimiliano Mascherini har varit chef för enheten för socialpolitik vid Eurofound sedan oktober 2019. Han började på Eurofound 2009 som forskningschef och utformade och samordnade projekt om ungdomssysselsättning, unga som varken arbetar eller studerar och deras sociala inkludering samt om kvinnors deltagande på arbetsmarknaden. År 2017 blev han forskningschef vid enheten för socialpolitik, där han ledde ny forskning om övervakning av konvergens i EU. Förutom arbetet med den europeiska undersökningen om livskvalitet leder han också utarbetandet och analysen av e-undersökningarna om covid-19. Dessförinnan var han vetenskaplig handläggare vid Europeiska kommissionens gemensamma forskningscentrum. Han studerade vid universitetet i Florens, där han studerade aktuariella och statistiska vetenskaper och fick en doktorsexamen i tillämpad statistik. Han har varit gästforskare vid University of Sydney och vid Aalborgs universitet och gästprofessor vid Påvliga akademin för samhällsvetenskap.

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European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions
The tripartite EU agency providing knowledge to assist in the development of better social, employment and work-related policies