Nearly 40% of all the total income in Europe goes to people who are in the highest income bracket, while those at the lowest level get only 8%.
Inequality looks at the living conditions of all the people in society, so is a broader concept than poverty which relates to the people just in the lowest income bracket.
Eurostat reports that income inequality actually decreased in 12 out of the EU’s 28 countries in the four years to 2012. This was because a number of people in the highest bracket lost some income during the financial crisis.
But at the same time, equality worsened in the other 16 countries.
Norway and Slovenia are the two countries which have the greatest equality between rich and poor. By contrast, Spain and Latvia have the worst inequality in Europe.
Looking at the average in the EU, only France and Croatia were at the average mark.
Twelve countries, including Spain and Latvia, have societies which are well above the average.
The analysis concluded that there are indeed high levels of inequality across southern Europe, but the picture was mixed for societies in northern Europe.
The welfare systems in many countries were shown to have gone a long way in making living conditions for all more equal. The greatest impacts were in Ireland, the UK and Spain (but even with these Spain still has the greatest inequality in Europe).
