<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>The reduction in the number of households living at risk of poverty is a common objective of EU countries but the social policy of each member state is different. This paper provides an overview of components of social transfers and their share in total household incomes in EU countries. The aim of the paper is to assess the effectiveness of the social systems of each on the basis of the number of households at risk of poverty determined before and after the payment of social benefits. Four segments of EU countries were identified in cluster analysis according to their approach to social transfer settings using primary data from EU-SILC survey. The combination of high share of social benefits and low share of old age pensions proves to be better in the fight against poverty. The relationship between an economic performance and a functioning social policy system appears in EU countries.</p></abstract>

The reduction in the number of households living at risk of poverty is a common objective of EU countries but the social policy of each member state is different. This paper provides an overview of components of social transfers and their share in total household incomes in EU countries. The aim of the paper is to assess the effectiveness of the social systems of each on the basis of the number of households at risk of poverty determined before and after the payment of social benefits. Four segments of EU countries were identified in cluster analysis according to their approach to social transfer settings using primary data from EU-SILC survey. The combination of high share of social benefits and low share of old age pensions proves to be better in the fight against poverty. The relationship between an economic performance and a functioning social policy system appears in EU countries.

Application of the Institute of Income Redistribution in the Form of Social Transfers in EU Countries

DANUBE

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

The reduction in the number of households living at risk of poverty is a common objective of EU countries but the social policy of each member state is...

Country	Number of households in EU-SILC	Country	Number of households in EU-SILC	Country	Number of households in EU-SILC
Austria	6 045	Germany	12 927	Poland	12 183
Belgium	6 006	Greece	14 096	Portugal	8 740
Bulgaria	4 995	Hungary	7 770	Romania	7 415
Croatia	6 562	Ireland	5 452	Slovakia	5 637
Cyprus	4 357	Italy	17 985	Slovenia	8 685
Czechia	7 914	Latvia	6 113	Spain	12 367
Denmark	6 025	Lithuania	4 849	Sweden	5 859
Estonia	5 728	Luxembourg	3 474	United Kingdom	9 312
Finland	10 726	Malta	4 233
France	11 390	Netherlands	9 806

Country	Income	Country	Income	Country	Income	Country	Income
Luxembourg	5363	Finland	3139	Malta	2163	Poland	976
Denmark	3684	Belgium	3079	Slovenia	1815	Latvia	931
Ireland	3602	Netherlands	3009	Portugal	1418	Croatia	918
Austria	3381	Germany	2805	Greece	1245	Lithuania	834
United Kingdom	3320	Cyprus	2497	Estonia	1200	Hungary	697
Sweden	3262	Italy	2430	Slovakia	1119	Bulgaria	566
France	3203	Spain	2174	Czechia	1119	Romania	398

Application of the Institute of Income Redistribution in the Form of Social Transfers in EU Countries

Published Online: Jul 24, 2019

Page range: 161 - 172

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/danb-2019-0008

Keywords
Social Transfer, Income Inequality, Poverty, Social Benefits, Old Age Pension

© 2019 Irena Antošová et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Frequency of households in the EU-SILC survey in EU countries in 2015

Average household disposable income (monthly in euro)

Application of the Institute of Income Redistribution in the Form of Social Transfers in EU Countries

Published Online: Jul 24, 2019

Page range: 161 - 172

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/danb-2019-0008

KeywordsSocial Transfer, Income Inequality, Poverty, Social Benefits, Old Age Pension

© 2019 Irena Antošová et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Frequency of households in the EU-SILC survey in EU countries in 2015

Average household disposable income (monthly in euro)

Keywords
Social Transfer, Income Inequality, Poverty, Social Benefits, Old Age Pension