Social exclusion in Europe

Poverty, as understood by the European Commission, is defined as follows in the Joint Report on Social Inclusion 2004: “People are said to be living in poverty if their income and resources are so inadequate as to preclude them from having a standard of living considered acceptable in the society in which they live (...). They are often excluded and marginalised from participating in activities (economic, social and cultural) that are the norm for other people and their access to fundamental rights may be restricted.”

The definition of poverty has been agreed upon throughout the EU with the “at risk-of-poverty rate after social transfers” indicator:  share of persons with an equivalised disposable income below the risk-of-poverty threshold, which is set at 60% of the national median equivalised disposable income after social transfers. The definition of “serious poverty” covers those people living with between 40% and 30%; and “severe poverty” has been set at situations where people live with less than 30% of the median.

Another definition of poverty is provided by the not-for-profit ATD Fourth World, which defines extreme poverty as impacting on three broad areas: multidimensionality (education, health, housing, family, culture, access to services and, of course, employment); denial of fundamental rights; persistence.

The European Anti Poverty Network (EAPN), has the following vision on social exclusion:

“The term social exclusion is used to emphasise the processes which push people to the edge of society, which limit their access to resources and opportunities, curtail their participation in normal social and cultural life leaving them feeling marginalised, powerless and discriminated against. Another common term associated with poverty is “vulnerability”. People are in a vulnerable situation when their personal well-being is put at risk because they lack sufficient resources, are at risk of being in debt, suffer poor health, experience educational disadvantage and live in inadequate housing and environment”. Download here the poverty explainer.

There are many sources for measuring poverty, the main source for comparable annual data on the level and composition of poverty and inequality in the EU is Community Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC).

In addition, there are several NGO networks that provide information sources that are well connected to grassroots reality (see the EAPN poverty explainer above).