Spatial Distribution of Poverty in the European Union

According to the latest estimates over 16 per cent of the EU citizens are poor (based on monetary concept). Using Europe 2020 strategy indicator people at risk of poverty or social exclusion over 23 percent of EU citizens can be considered poor. Analyses of poverty may be based on several poverty concepts. The assessment of well-being for poverty analyses is usually based on two main conceptual approaches: the welfarist approach and the non-welfarist approach. Measurement of well-being using welfarist approach is based on proxies such as income, consumption or expenditures data, while the non-welfarist approach is based on proxies such as material deprivation. Furthermore distinction may be made between objective measures of poverty and subjective perception of the phenomenon by individuals alone. The goal of this paper is to analyse the spatial distribution of poverty across the EU regions. The following poverty concepts are considered: monetary poverty, relative material deprivation, and subjective perception of poverty. Analyses performed in the study are based on EU SILC 2005-2010/2011 microdata using standard spatial statistical tools. All countries do not publish the "region" variable, and hence poverty measures may not be estimated for all EU regions. In terms of monetary poverty, poverty line is set at 60% of the national median equivalised disposable income after social transfers. In our study two additional poverty lines are adopted to each region: EU-wide poverty line, and a region-specific poverty line. There are considerable differences in these three results, especially for Eastern EU countries. Furthermore, it is interesting to see the differences in poverty measures across EU regions before and after the crisis, and the different perceptions of poverty in Western and Eastern EU countries.