A COMPARISON OF POVERTY IN 7 EUROPEAN COUNTRIES AND REGIONS USING SUBJECTIVE AND RELATIVE MEASURES

This paper presents comparative results on poverty in seven countries and regions of the European Community: Belgium, The Netherlands, Luxem bourg, Lorraine, Ireland, Catalonia and Greece. The data are obtained from comparable socio-economic surveys in each country. Subjective as well as relative poverty lines are used. The results indicate that the subjective poverty lines are plausible in a comparative context, alth ough the levels of the subjective standards are rather generous. The e stimated equivalence scales are much flatter than the one recommended by the OECD. The extent of poverty is much greater in the ''peripheral '' EC-countries than in the ''central'' ones. Though similar factors a re found to be associated with poverty in all countries, there are als o important differences in the characteristics of the poor across coun tries. The impact of social security transfers on poverty appears to b e much smaller in the southern countries Greece and Catalonia, than in the Benelux and Lorraine.