Poverty Thresholds in Europe

Poverty is measured in relation to the median living standard of each country. Thus, the living standards of poor people in rich countries can not be compared to the poor in poor countries. The United Kingdom for example counts 17 % of poverty, but the poverty threshold at 60 % is 853 Euro per month and per person, against 176 Euro for Romania, which counts 21 % of poor people. The British poverty threshold is 2.8 times higher than the Romanian median income. These different thresholds are usually calculated with the purchasing power: thus they consider the differences of living standards between countries. The 10 % richest living in Romania would be among the 10 % poorest in the United Kingdom…

The highest threshold for the 60 % poverty rate is the Austrian one (958 Euro per month), ahead of the Netherlands and Sweden (thresholds above 900 Euro). The French poverty threshold is among the highest (877 Euro) while the Romanian threshold (176 Euro) is the lowest in Europe.