Measuring and Monitoring Absolute Poverty in the European Union

Fueled by the recent cost of living crisis and compounding social policy challenges, absolute poverty measurement is rapidly gaining relevance in many advanced economies. Focusing on individuals’ and households’ minimum needs, absolute measures of poverty are well suited to support adequate social protection schemes and time-consistent social monitoring. The current Open Access publication gives a comprehensive overview of the art and science of absolute poverty measurement in the European context. It summarizes the lessons learned from the ABSPO exploratory research project – carried out by the Directorate General of Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion and the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission – tasked with designing and implementing the first cross-country comparable measurement of absolute poverty in the European Union. Presented as a methodological handbook for practitioners and social policy experts, the relevant material covers all aspects of the measurement process and introduces a novel framework, innovative methodologies and pioneering data analysis to highlight the mechanics of absolute poverty measurement in advanced economies. Taking a distinctly forward-looking and international approach to poverty thinking, the ABSPO measurement tools reveal new forms and patterns of social exclusion between and within European societies that have remained hidden using existing indicators and social statistics. Bálint Menyhért is an economist and a former research fellow at the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission. He holds a PhD from the Central European University and worked previously at the OECD and the National Bank of Hungary. Zsombor Cseres-Gergely is an economist at the European Commission and a former research fellow at the Joint Research Centre. He holds a Phd from the Central European University and worked previously at the Institute of Economics of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Virmantas Kvedaras is an applied econometrician and a former research fellow at the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission. He holds a Phd from the Vilnius University where he previously worked as an associate professor at the Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics. Benedetta Mina is an economist at the Italian Parliament and a former research assistant at the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission. She is set to obtain her PhD from the University of Rome Tor Vergata. Filippo Pericoli is an economist at the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction and former research fellow at the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission. He holds a PhD from the Sapienza University of Rome and worked previously at the Italian Ministry of Economy and Finance. Slavica Zec is a statistician and a former research fellow at the Joint Research Centre of the European Commission. She holds a PhD from the University of Padova where she previously worked as a socio-economic researcher.