Skip to main content

Nearly one-quarter of EU citizens at-risk-of poverty or social exclusion

While the South has to deal with the refugee waves, the gap between North and South grows. Things are getting worse for Europe.

Social Justice in the EU – Index Report 2015

Key findings:

  • Nearly one-quarter of EU citizens (24.6%) are currently regarded as being at-risk-of poverty or social exclusion – an extremely high and worrisome value. Measured against today’s total EU population, this corresponds to approximately 122 million people.

  • The gap between the northern European countries and the crisis-battered southern European countries remains enormous. In Spain, Portugal and Greece, the share of people threatened by poverty or social exclusion has increased once again in comparison to last year’s survey. In Greece, 36 percent of the total population is at-risk-of poverty or social exclusion. In Spain, this figure is above 29 percent. For children and youth, these shares are even higher. In Portugal, the poverty rate within the total population has risen to 27.5 percent.

  • In the great majority of EU member states, social conditions for children and youth have deterio rated since 2007/8, in some cases significantly. Even compared to last year’s survey, which marks the lowest point of developments to date, 13 countries have shown still-further deterioration with regard to life opportunities for young people. The situation particularly in the crisis-torn southern European countries of Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain remains critical.

  • The fact that the risk of poverty among children and youth in some crisis-battered southern European countries has again increased in comparison to last year’s survey is very troubling. In Spain, 35.8 percent of children and youth are today at-risk-of poverty and social exclusion, while this rate is 31.7 percent in Portugal. In Greece, this ratio is an alarming 36.7 percent, while the share of children living under conditions of severe material deprivation has more than doubled from 9.7 percent in 2007 to today’s 23.2 percent. The figures are also alarming in Hungary: 41.4 percent of children there are regarded as being at-risk-of poverty and social exclusion. This share is higher only in Romania and Bulgaria, although the trend in these countries is on the decline. The poor performance of the United Kingdom is also striking. Here, 32.6 percent of people under the age of 18 are at-risk-of poverty and social exclusion.

  • EU-wide, 27.9 percent of children and young people are threatened by poverty or social exclusion, which is clearly more than in 2007 (26.4%). However, such EU-wide averages are always difficult to interpret due to the differing population sizes of each country. When we look exclusively at the increase of poverty in the four crisis countries Spain, Greece, Portugal and Italy, then the average poverty rate of these four countries together has risen by more than 5 percentage points: from 28.7 in 2007 to today’s 33.8 percent. In absolute numbers, this corresponds to an increase of 1.16 million children in these four countries alone.

  • In Spain and Greece, youth unemployment is still well over 50 percent, and in Italy it has even risen again, to a rate of 42.7 percent. In contrast to the southern European countries, the lowest NEET [not in education, employment or training] rates are found in the Netherlands (7.8%), Denmark (8.4%) and Germany (9.5%). Germany is the only country that has substantially improved in comparison to 2008.

  • The average level of national debt has risen from 62.5 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2008 to a current level of 87.7 percent. The crisis-battered southern European states of Portugal, Italy and Greece now carry debt loads of between 130 percent (Portugal) and 177 (Greece) percent of their annual economic output, even though budget deficits have been scaled back through the implementation of harsh austerity policies. In Cyprus, the public-debt level more than doubled between 2008 (44.7% of GDP) and 2014 (107.1%). The fiscal burdens for today’s young people as well as future generations in these countries are thus immense. At the same time, the average EU level of investment in research and development has not increased in comparison to last year’s survey.

Full Report:

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Oct. 7 Reports Implode: Beheaded Babies, NY Times Scandal, & More

Glenn Greenwald    

Israel’s Descent Into Madness & the Holocaust Comparison

BreakThrough News   Rania Khalek was joined by Tarik Cyril Amar, a historian from Germany and associate professor at Koc University in Istanbul, to discuss Israel’s descent into genocidal fascism. Prof. Amar addresses whether it’s useful to make Holocaust and Nazi comparisons and the real reason behind the West’s unshakeable loyalty attitude when it comes to Israel’s barbarism.   

Zionist and US imperialist criminals are about to grab the natural gas off shore Gaza

globinfo freexchange   As the genocide against Palestinians of Gaza is about to be completed with an act of unprecedented brutality by the Zionists and butcher Netanyahu through the bombardment of about 1.4 million civilians in Rafah, it seems that they have already set their next primary goal. Which, in short, is to grab the natural gas resources off shore Gaza, together with their US imperialist buddies whose contribution to the genocide has been undoubtedly critical.     As already reported , in 2007, Hamas came to power and Israel launched an offensive on Gaza Strip, leaving behind 1,400 dead Palestinians, but taking with it the gas fields. Within a year, Israel announced the discovery of the Leviathan natural gas field, which did include Gaza's riches, valued at 453 billion dollars. But Gazans have been denied around 47 billion dollars in revenue. As for Tel Aviv, it's gunning to become a new hub. At that moment in time, that is 2022, Russian oil and gas were sanctioned.

Neocon Queen Victoria Nuland Ends Her Reign: Exposing a Catastrophic Career

Glenn Greenwald    

Το σκάσιμο της φούσκας Μητσοτάκη με νέα επίσημη χρεοκοπία και οριστικό τέλος της μεταπολίτευσης

του system failure   Τα αποτελέσματα των εκλογών της 25ης Ιουνίου ήταν λίγο-πολύ αναμενόμενα όσον αφορά τις πρώτες θέσεις με βάση και τα αποτελέσματα της πρώτης κάλπης του Μαίου. Αν συμπεριλάβουμε και το ποσοστό της αναμενόμενης αποχής, δεν μας έδωσαν κάποια ιδιαίτερη έκπληξη. Αυτό όμως που φαίνεται να αιφνιδίασε ακόμα και το συστημικό κατεστημένο, είναι η είσοδος των δύο υπερσυντηρητικών, ακροδεξιών κομμάτων Νίκη και Σπαρτιάτες, με το τελευταίο να έχει ξεκάθαρες διασυνδέσεις με τον πρώην Χρυσαυγίτη, Ηλία Κασιδιάρη. Παρά τη μεγάλη νίκη Μητσοτάκη, οι μιντιακοί ινστρούχτορες της καθεστωτικής προπαγάνδας εμφανίστηκαν σε γενικές γραμμές "μουδιασμένοι" και αυτό οφείλεται στο γεγονός ότι το συστημικό κατεστημένο (δηλαδή τα μεγάλα οικονομικά συμφέροντα που ελέγχουν και το σύνολο των μεγάλων ΜΜΕ πανελλαδικής εμβέλειας), πέτυχε μόνο έναν από τους τέσσερις μεγάλους στόχους που είχε θέσει εξ'αρχής. Μιλώντας με ποδοσφαιρικούς όρους, ουσιαστικά έχασε με σκορ 3-1.   Ο μεγάλος στόχος πο

Τυχαία γεγονότα στην τριτοκοσμική μπανανία των Βαλκανίων

failed evolution   1) Συμβαίνει το μεγαλύτερο σιδηροδρομικό δυστύχημα στην ιστορία της χώρας. 2) Γίνεται αστραπιαία επιχείρηση μοντάζ των συνομιλιών του σταθμάρχη από μηχανισμό του καθεστώτος, πριν ακόμα φτάσει στα χέρια των αρχών, προκειμένου να αποδοθεί η τραγωδία αποκλειστικά σε ανθρώπινο λάθος και να βγουν από το κάδρο οι πολιτικές ευθύνες ανώτατων κυβερνητικών αξιωματούχων. 3) Αναπαράγεται το παραποιημένο υλικό αστραπιαία από ναυαρχίδα της καθεστωτικής προπαγάνδας. 4) Τοποθετείται επικεφαλής στην επιτροπή-παρωδία πρωτοπαλίκαρο του καθεστώτος Μητσοτάκη που εργάζονταν παλιά στην ίδια αυτή ναυαρχίδα. 5) Η επιτροπή κλείνει άρον-άρον την υπόθεση αποκλείοντας ουσιώδεις μάρτυρες που είχαν προειδοποιήσει επανειλημμένα τον αρμόδιο υπουργό για τον κίνδυνο μεγάλου δυστυχήματος. Σταματάει έτσι και η όποια σε βάθος διερεύνηση για την τσιμεντοποίηση του χώρου και την απόπειρα συγκάλυψης της τραγωδίας.  

The Shadowy, Intelligence-Linked Group Driving the US Towards War With Iran

"United Against Nuclear Iran does not miss an opportunity to try to bring the United States closer to a military conflict with Iran. And on the other side of the equation, they also have worked very hard to oppose efforts to de-escalate the U.S.-Iran relationship."   by Alan Macleod   Part 7 - A Lesson From History   The history of Iran has been intimately intertwined with the United States since at least 1953 when Washington orchestrated a successful coup against Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh. Mosaddegh had refused U.S. demands to stamp out Communist influences in his country and had nationalized the nation’s oil. The U.S. installed Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi as a puppet ruler. An unpopular and authoritarian ruler, the Shah was overthrown in the Revolution of 1979. Since then, it has become a target for regime change, and its nuclear program is something of an obsession in the West. Often orchestrated by UANI officials while they were in government, the U.S. has carried

How the CIA oversees the Ukraine proxy war on Russia

Geopolitical Economy Report   Several reports in mainstream US media outlets show how the CIA has helped to direct the proxy war against Russia in Ukraine, and played a role in causing the conflict in the first place. Ben Norton examines the evidence.   Related: Confirmed: US imperialists wanted to drag Russia into a war with Ukraine since at least 2019

Israel Carries Out Most Sadistic Massacre, Opens Fire On Gaza Aid Convoy

Richard Medhurst  

The real reason behind TikTok ban

Glenn Greenwald /  Richard Medhurst