Trends in consumption-based poverty mind inequality in the European Union during the 1980s

Most recent studies on poverty and inequality in developed countries focus on income. In contrast, this paper presents trends in consumption-based pov erty and inequality in nine member countries of the European Union. During the 1980s, both poverty and inequality increased in Italy, France, the Unit ed Kingdom, Germany and Belgium, while decreases in both poverty and inequa lity are observed for Spain and Portugal. In Greece only inequality increas ed. For most countries for which income-based results are available, these move in the same direction as the consumption-based results. However, this sensitivity analysis yields considerable differences in the ranking of coun tries and the magnitude of the changes.