Living conditions

148 Pages·2017·6.41 MB·English

Living conditions
in Europe 2018 edition
S TA T I S T I C A L
B O O K S
Living conditions
in Europe 2018 edition
Printed by Imprimerie Centrale in Luxembourg
Manuscript completed in March 2018
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Theme: Population and social conditions
Collection: Statistical books
Print: ISBN 978-92-79-86497-1 PDF: ISBN 978-92-79-86498-8
ISSN 1725-5988 ISSN 2363-2526
doi:10.2785/14408 doi:10.2785/39876
Cat. No: KS-DZ-18-001-EN-C Cat. No: KS-DZ-18-001-EN-N
A bstract
Living conditions in Europe — 2018 edition
This publication provides a picture of current living conditions in Europe, as well as the socio-economic
factors afecting the everyday life of Europeans. Chapter 1 focuses on the fnancial dimensions of
poverty and inequality. Chapter 2 examines to what extent a lack of adequate income can prevent
people from afording an adequate standard of living. Chapter 3 presents statistics with regard to the
quality of housing, while Chapter 4 provides information on the interactions between living conditions
and labour and health status. Finally, Chapter 5 provides an analysis of social participation and social
integration. The majority of the indicators presented in the publication come from European statistics
on income and living conditions (EU-SILC), with data up to 2016.
Production
INFORMA sàrl: Simon Allen, Giovanni Albertone, Andrew Redpath
Layout
INFORMA sàrl
Chief editor
Emilio Di Meglio
Eurostat, Unit F.4., Income and living conditions; Quality of life
Editors
Emilio Di Meglio, Agata Kaczmarek-Firth, Agnieszka Litwinska, Cristian Rusu
Eurostat, Unit F.4., Income and living conditions; Quality of life
Map production
Eurostat, Unit F.4.
Dissemination
Catherine Coyette
Eurostat, Unit B.4., Digital dissemination
Contact details
Eurostat
Bâtiment Joseph Bech
5, rue Alphonse Weicker
2721 Luxembourg
LUXEMBOURG
For more information please consult:
http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat
http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/help/support
Data extraction
Data were extracted during the period: 23 October - 3 November 2017
Living conditions in Europe — 2018 edition 3
Contents
Contents
Abstract 3
Contents 4
Introduction 5
1. Income distribution and income inequality 7
1.1 Income distribution 9
1.2 Income inequality 21
2. Efects of income on living conditions 25
2.1 Poverty and social exclusion 27
2.2 Material deprivation 42
2.3 Economic strain 47
3. Housing quality 53
3.1 Housing conditions 54
3.2 Living environments 64
3.3 Housing afordability 70
4. Socio-economic aspects of living conditions 77
4.1 Health conditions 78
4.2 Labour conditions 87
4.3 Childcare and education arrangements 105
5. Social participation and integration 109
5.1 Social participation 110
5.2 Social networks 122
Anex 13
Methodological notes 134
Glosary 135
Abbreviations and symbols 143
4 Living conditions in Europe — 2018 edition
Introduction
Introduction
Since the launch of the Europe 2020 strategy (1) This statistical book aims to present a
for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth, the comprehensive picture of current living
importance of income and living conditions conditions in Europe. Diferent aspects of
statistics has grown rapidly. Indeed, one of the living conditions are covered through a broad
fve Europe 2020 headline targets is related to selection of indicators refecting socio-
social inclusion and consists of lifting at least 20 economic conditions that afect the everyday
million people in the European Union (EU) from lives of Europeans. The main aspects concern
the risk of poverty or social exclusion by 2020. income, poverty and social exclusion, material
deprivation and housing conditions, as well as
The social consequences of the global fnancial
health and labour conditions, social participation
and economic crisis gave even more importance
and social integration.
to data on income and living conditions. One
example concerns the creation of a reference This publication is divided into fve chapters, each
framework for monitoring performance through focusing on diferent aspects of living conditions.
the European pillar of social rights. Chapter 1 presents the fnancial dimensions of
The social investment package (2) adopted in poverty and inequality and covers key income-
based statistics and indicators refecting disparities
February 2013, urged countries to put more
in the distribution of monetary resources. Chapter 2
emphasis on social investment to achieve the
shows how poverty, social exclusion and material
Europe 2020 targets, and also led to increased
deprivation can impact on the ability of people
demand for timely and reliable data on the social
to have an adequate standard of living. Chapter 3
situation in Europe.
uses EU-SILC data to illustrate a range of issues in
Finally, the Beyond GDP (3) debate has drawn relation to housing quality, presenting information
attention for the need to complement GDP on actual dwellings as well as the local environment
measures with indicators that encompass social that surrounds them. Chapter 4 examines the
and environmental aspects of progress. impact that socio-economic factors may have on
EU statistics on income and living conditions people’s living standards, for example, the infuence
(EU-SILC) are the main data source used within of their labour market status or their health status.
this publication for a comparative analysis of In Chapter 5, social participation and integration
income and living conditions in the EU; they also are analysed, for example, detailing the share of
provide information in order to analyse various people who are active citizens, the share of people
aspects of social exclusion. that participate in volunteering activities, or the
frequency with which people interact with their
friends and/or family.
(1) For more information, see: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2010:2020:FIN:EN:PDF.
(2) For more information, see: http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=1044&langId=.
(3) European Commission, GDP and beyond — Measuring progress in a changing world, COM (2009) 433 fnal, Brussels, 2009
(http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2009:0433:FIN:EN:PDF).
Living conditions in Europe — 2018 edition 5
Introduction
The data used in the publication were drawn the 2012 EU-SILC ad-hoc module for data on
from Eurostat’s dissemination database during housing; the 2013 EU-SILC ad-hoc module on
the period from 23 October to 3 November 2017 personal well-being; the 2014 EU-SILC ad-hoc
and cover all 28 Member States of the EU; subject module on material deprivation; and the 2015
to data availability, information is also presented EU-SILC ad-hoc module on social and cultural
for EFTA (Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway participation. Apart from the data derived from
and Switzerland) and candidate countries EU-SILC, use was also made of two additional
(Montenegro, the former Yugoslav Republic of sources — national accounts and harmonised
Macedonia, Albania, Serbia and Turkey). indices of consumer prices (HICP) — the former
provides information pertaining to the structure
The majority of the indicators come from
of household consumption expenditure, while
EU-SILC data set and are generally available up
the latter was used to defate income statistics so
until 2016. Some specifc aspects of the analysis
an analysis of income developments in real terms
refer to earlier reference periods, for example:
could be made.
6 Living conditions in Europe — 2018 edition
Income distribution
1 and income inequality
1 Income distribution and income inequality
Gross domestic product (GDP) is a measure (equivalence) scale — Eurostat uses a ‘modifed
of the total output of an economy; from the OECD scale’ — which gives a weight to each
perspective of living conditions, GDP may also member of a household (and then adds these
be calculated as the sum of primary incomes that up to arrive at an equivalised household size),
are distributed by resident producer units (in the taking into account the number of persons in
form of wages, rents, interest and profts). When each household and the age of its members
a country’s population is taken into account, GDP (more details are provided in the glossary). Total
per capita provides both a convenient measure disposable household income, derived as the
of average incomes and of the living standards sum of the income received by every member of
enjoyed by the inhabitants living in a specifc the household and by the household as a whole,
economy, as well as (when adjusted to take is divided by the equivalised household size to
account of price diferences between countries determine the equivalised disposable income
— through the use of purchasing power parities attributed to each household member.
(PPPs)) — a measure for comparisons of living
The median of the equivalised disposable
standards across countries.
income distribution is typically used in the
Nevertheless, GDP per capita is a relatively European Union (EU) as a key measure for
simple, aggregate measure and in order to have analysing standards of living within each
a more detailed picture of living conditions, it economy. It is simply the income level that
is pertinent to analyse the distribution (rather divides the population into two groups of equal
than average levels) of household income. A size: one encompassing half the population with
number of diferent statistical measures are a level of disposable income above the median,
available for this purpose, including household and the other half with a level of disposable
disposable income, in other words, the total income below the median. The use of the
income that households have at their disposal median (in contrast to the arithmetic mean)
for spending or saving. While the aggregated avoids any potential distortion that may be
level of household disposable income is available caused by the existence of extreme values, such
from national accounts and might be used for as a few extremely rich households that may
a general analysis of the household sector, this raise the arithmetic mean.
indicator also lacks any distributional dimension
In 2016, median equivalised net income
and it is therefore preferable to base any
varied considerably across the EU Member
analysis of income distributions on micro data
States, ranging from PPS 4 720 in Romania to
sources, in other words, statistical surveys for
PPS 29 285 in Luxembourg, the EU-28 average
a representative sample of actual households,
was PPS 16 468; note, these fgures have been
rather than aggregate macroeconomic measures.
converted into purchasing power standards
Such surveys allow an analysis of median income
(PPS) — a unit that takes account of price level
levels or the distribution of income across socio-
diferences between countries.
economic strata of the population.
Median equivalised net income fell, in real terms,
In order to take into account diferences in
in 4 out of the 25 EU Member States for which
household size and composition and thus
data are available in 2016 (no data for Ireland,
enable comparisons of income levels, the
Italy or Luxembourg) — they were Bulgaria,
concept of equivalised disposable income
Finland, Greece and Malta.
may be used. It is based on expressing total
(net) household income in relation to the Across all 28 EU Member States, the top 20 % of
number of ‘equivalent adults’, using a standard the population with the highest incomes (the
8 Living conditions in Europe — 2018 edition