Regional poverty mapping in Europe – Challenges, advances, benefits and limitations

Abstract

The 'at-risk-of-poverty' rate is the most widely recognised indicator of income poverty. Its principal advantage is that it is relatively straightforward to define and (given appropriate data) to calculate. National at-risk-of-poverty rates play a key role in monitoring EU2020 objectives relating to combating poverty. Regional patterns of poverty have the potential to deepen our understanding of processes of impoverishment and differentiation, and how they can be more effectively addressed by policy. Estimating regional poverty rates, and especially producing a European map, is a challenging task, given current data resources. This paper begins by placing the at-risk-of-poverty rate within the wider conceptual context relating to poverty, social exclusion and deprivation. It then provides an account of an exercise to map at-risk-of-poverty rates at NUTS 3 across 20 European countries. Together with data derived from national registers (where available) and more direct apportionment methods, coverage of most of Western Europe is achieved. The patterns revealed are described, and generalisations, which serve as pointers to Downloaded from further research on the processes responsible, are derived. The paper concludes with some reflections on the value of regional at-risk-of-poverty rates in advancing our understanding of the distribution and causes of poverty, and hence appropriate interventions to ameliorate it.

Poverty and Social Exclusion in Diversified Rural Contexts

“…A descriptive study of Bertolini et al (2008) on rural poverty in Europe demonstrated the diversity of rural-urban disparities in individual European countries and shed light on the different drivers of rural poverty in Europe. Shucksmith et al (2009), as well as Bock et al (2015) and Weziak Bielowolska (2016) used a cross-nationally comparative dataset showing that increased rural poverty levels and a rural-urban poverty gap can be found particularly in the poorer, eastern and southern European countries, a conclusion also confirmed in detailed analysis of Eurostat data across the EU-28 by Copus et al (2015b). The coarse spatial scale of harmonised cross-national data, typically only available at the NUTS 2 regional level with the OECD Sociologia Ruralis, Vol 59, Number 3, July 2019 rural-urban identifier, and the narrow range of variables available were commented on in this study as barriers to cross-national and multidimensional research on rural poverty and social exclusion.…”

Analysis of social models in Central and Eastern Europe - A focus on poverty and social exclusion

“…Concerning the measurement of poverty, Bodea and Herman (2014) state, on the basis of preceding research, that poverty can be measured through the help of the following indicators: poverty headcount ratio, rate of poverty, Gini coefficient and other indicators that concern living aspects such as the access to water, durable goods ownership, education and spending undertaken for consumption purposes. Oppositely, Copus et al (2015) affirm that another measure of quantifying poverty is the at-risk-of-poverty rate, used by the European Union when establishing the efficiency of poverty reduction goals specified in the EU 2020 strategy. More precisely, the at-risk-of-poverty rate displays the percentage of individuals who belong to households in which the available income is under the threshold of 60% computed with reference to the national median.…”

Be (and have) good neighbours! Factors of vulnerability in the case of multiple hazards

“…For instance, Bertolini et al (2008) stress the urban-rural divides in terms of socioeconomic performances. In particular, rural areas have suffered from socioeconomic weakness and negative demographic trends since the mass urbanization process (Copus et al, 2015), which today make them more vulnerable also to adverse natural events. The National Strategy for Inner Areas has also assessed this issue (Barca et al, 2014).…”