Inflation increases poverty unevenly, widening gaps across the EU

A new Science-for-Policy report "The effect of rising energy and consumer prices on household finances, poverty and social exclusion in the EU" by the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission takes a detailed view on the matter, analysing the expenditure structure of European households across main product categories, such as food, energy, industrial goods and services. Using innovative measurement strategies, this study is also the first to assess the uneven effects of inflation on various indicators of poverty and deprivation.

The study confirms that the adverse social effects of inflation are significantly larger in many Central and Eastern European Member States, especially among disadvantaged and vulnerable groups. Low-income households in these countries may devote twice as high a share of their total budget to food and energy than their high-income peers or wealthier households in other Member States. Consequently, the increase in European households' living cost as a result of inflation between August 2021 and August 2022 was very uneven, and ranged between 7% and 30% across different countries and income segments. Poorer households are at a double disadvantage, which is deepening existing social gaps and inequalities across the EU.  

Capitalism and the Industrial Revolution erased Extreme Poverty across the Globe

Just be happy, it could be(come) much worse.

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