Issue № 74. June 2019

Multidimensional Poverty in EU Countries: Risk of Poverty or Social Exclusion (AROPE)

Senior Researcher, Institute for Social Analysis and Forecasting, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration; postgraduate student, Moscow state university, Moscow, Russian Federation.
E-mail: mkartseva@mail.ru

In modern economic literature, the concept of multidimensional poverty is considered as the most progressive approach to measuring poverty in developed countries. The paper examines the prevalence of multidimensional poverty in the EU. A multidimensional index of poverty risk and social exclusion (AROPE) is used as an indicator of poverty. It integrates indicators of replative income poverty, material deprivations and exclusion from the labor market. The empirical basis of the research is the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC). The analysis showed that nearly a quarter of the EU population is at risk of poverty and social exclusion. The level of multicriteria poverty varies significantly in individual EU countries, which is mainly due to significant differences in the socio-economic development of the countries of the Union. The most vulnerable category in terms of multidimensional poverty in the EU are children from 0 to 17 years. EU citizens over the age of 65, by contrast, are a relatively prosperous group of the population. The greatest contribution to the level of multi-criteria poverty in the EU is made by relative income poverty. However, the use of additional criteria within the framework of the AROPE methodology makes it possible to identify and introduce into the focus of social policy an additional 6.2% of the population who are not monetary poor, but who experience substantial material deprivation or social exclusion.

Keywords

Multidimantional poverty, relative income poverty, deprivations, EU, risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE), socially vulnerable groups.