A set of negative convergences that leads on one hand to a worsening of living conditions and on the other hand to a growth in economic inequalities. Not only in already at-risk areas, but especially in the most developed countries. Such as Europe.
In other words, the gap between the rich and the poor is growing. Just to clarify the situation, one data suffices: in 2022, 1% of the European population held 11.4% of the total income. And Italy?
“It is among the most populous countries where the richest 1% holds the highest share of national income”. It is here, in fact, that the “greatest concentration of wealth in the hands of a few” is recorded. And the result is a study that raises an alarm about the distribution of economic resources within a single country, among the various social classes.
“Global inequalities are far from decreasing, indeed they tend to increase. Unfortunately, Europe is not an exception to this alarming trend”. The research emphasizes that disparities in the distribution of both income and wealth have increased.
Returning to Italy, the report highlights how “ours, at 13.6%, is the sixth country in the Union with the widest gap”. And the rest of Europe? Bulgaria and Denmark are the two countries “where the richest 1% holds the highest share of national income, with respectively 18.7% and 18.6%.
Percentages below 8% are found in the Czech Republic, Belgium, and Slovakia”. On average over the years, the share of income in the hands of the richest people has slightly increased: “The peak was reached in 2007, when the value stood at 12.6%. Only in five countries there was a decrease: Austria, Spain, Cyprus, Belgium, and Luxembourg”.
The report also highlights how the biggest increases, from the 1980s to today, “have instead concerned the countries of the former Soviet bloc, which have more recently adopted the free market. In Bulgaria (the country which also records the most pronounced gap), the share has increased by over 15 percentage points, rising from 3% in 1980 to 19% in 2022. Also in Estonia, the share has grown by 10 points.
There are also significant cases in some Scandinavian countries: Denmark (second after Bulgaria in terms of the magnitude of the gap) records an increase of 12 percentage points and Sweden of 7. Moreover, Italy, like Hungary and Lithuania, has seen an increase of 7 percentage points. This is the highest figure among the most populous EU countries (France, Germany, and Spain).
Furthermore, for Italy itself, this is an absolute record”. The study also highlights other unsettling aspects related to Europe. “8.9% of workers in the EU were at risk of poverty (2021): ‘working poverty’ refers to the phenomenon of those who, despite working, fall below the relative poverty threshold, or earn less than 60% of the national median income.
There are 12 EU states where the incidence of working poverty has increased over the past decade, including Italy (+0.6 percentage points between 2012 and 2021). *Corriere della Sera is also on Whatsapp. Just click here to subscribe to the channel and stay up to date.
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