One European in six reports a constant struggle to pay household bills and about 75 per cent believe that poverty has increased in their country over the past year.

These are the key results from a new Eurobarometer survey on social impacts of the economic and financial crisis, presented by the EU Commission on June 22 2010.

The survey, carried out in May 2010, marks the halfway mark of the 2010 European Year against poverty and comes after EU leaders agreed on June 17 to "lift 20 million Europeans out of poverty and social exclusion over the next decade," a European Commission media statement said.

Speaking to the media in Brussels, László Andor, EU Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion said "The survey results confirm that poverty is a major issue in the EU and that the current economic and financial situation is aggravating the situation further. The crisis is taking its toll and a significant proportion of Europeans today are finding it difficult to make ends meet".
 
Andor said that the EU's new strategy for the next decade: Europe 2020 and its target to lift at least 20 million Europeans out of poverty by 2020 "sends a powerful message about all countries' genuine commitment to visible results for a more just and inclusive Europe".
 
Overall, EU citizens believe that poverty has increased in the year prior to the survey, at all levels: six out of 10 believe poverty has increased in their local area, three-quarters feel poverty has increased in their country and 60 per cent think poverty has increased across the EU as a whole.

The crisis and calls for austerity measures come through in people's perception of poverty. Greece stands out with 85 per cent of respondents who think poverty has increased in their country. Eighty-three per cent of the French, 82 per cent of Bulgarians, 77 per cent of Romanians and 75 per cent of Italians also share this view about their own country.
 
While in some countries, people expect further difficulties, like seven out of 10 Romanians and Greeks expect their household financial situation to deteriorate, perceptions did improve in others.

For example, 23 per cent of Latvians expect their households' financial situation to deteriorate (down from 65 per cent in July 2009), 32 per cent of Lithuanians (down from 58 per cent in July 2009) and 20 per cent of Hungarians (down from 48 per cent in July 2009). Now less respondents in Latvia, Poland, the UK, Belgium and Finland expect to remain unemployed if they were to lose their job.

A significant share of EU citizens report being in trouble financially.

One in six Europeans reported that their household has had no money to pay ordinary bills, buy food or other daily consumer items, on at least one occasion in the past year and 20 per cent had difficulties in keeping up with household bills and credit commitments at the time of the survey's fieldwork (carried out during May 2010).

For 15 per cent it is a constant struggle, while three per cent had fallen behind with some bills and credit commitments and two per cent were having real financial problems and had fallen behind with many such payments.

About three out of 10 Europeans reported that it had become more difficult to bear the costs of health care, childcare or long-term care for themselves or their relatives in the past six months. Eleven per cent felt it had become "much more difficult" and 18 per cent thought it had become "somewhat more difficult".

One European in six is not very or not at all confident of keeping their job.

As in March 2010, 18 per cent of respondents in employment are not very or not at all confident that they would be able to keep their current job in the next 12 months and 49 per cent think it would be fairly unlikely or not at all likely that they would be able to find a new position within six months, should they be laid off.
 
Finally, in terms of future income, 73 per cent of EU citizens either explicitly anticipate lower pension benefits or think they will have to postpone their retirement or save more money for old age.

Meanwhile, 20 per cent are very worried that their income in old age would be insufficient for them to live a decent life, and 34 per cent are fairly worried by such outlook.

In 17 EU member states, a majority of respondents are very or fairly worried that their income in old age will not be adequate to enable them to live in dignity.

Detailed extracts from the survey's findings:

Perceptions about the existence of poverty

• A majority of EU citizens considered that poverty was rather widespread in their country: 30% estimated that roughly 30% of their country’s population was poor, and a similar proportion (31%) thought that the poverty rate in their country was about 20%.
• Poverty trends in the year prior to the survey were seen to be negative by EU citizens:
o 6 in 10 respondents said that poverty had increased in their local area
o three-quarters of interviewees felt that poverty had increased in their country
o 60% thought that poverty had increased across the EU.
• The proportions of respondents who thought that poverty affected at least 20% of their country’s inhabitants were higher in eastern and south-eastern European countries than in northern and central European Member States.
• Greece stood out from the pack with roughly three-quarters (74%) of respondents who answered that poverty had strongly increased in their country. This view was also shared by 65% of Romanians, 61% of Portuguese respondents and 60% of Spanish respondents.

Respondents’ views about their household’s degree of financial difficulty

• One in six EU citizens stated that their household had had no money to pay ordinary bills, buy food or other daily consumer items, on at least one occasion, in the year prior to the survey and a similar proportion – 20% – were having difficulties in keeping up with household bills and credit commitments at the time of the survey.
• A breakdown of those respondents who were having difficulties in keeping up with household bills and credit commitments gave the following results: 15% said that this was a constant struggle, 3% had fallen behind with some bills and credit commitments, and 2% were having real financial problems and had fallen behind with many such payments.
• In total, 58% of Greek respondents answered that their household was struggling constantly to keep up with bills and credit commitments or had fallen behind with some or many such payments. In four further countries, at least 4 in 10 respondents reported similar problems: Latvia (48%), Portugal (46%), Bulgaria (44%) and Malta (41%).
• In Portugal and Romania, between March 2010 and May 2010, the proportion of respondents who said they were struggling constantly to keep up with bills and credit commitments or had fallen behind with some or many such payments increased by six percentage points.
• The opposite tendency was seen in Lithuania; while in March 2010, 40% of Lithuanians answered that their household was having difficulties in keeping up with day-to-day bills and credit commitments, this proportion decreased to 33% in May 2010. Belgians were now also significantly less likely to report having such difficulties.

Coping with the costs of various types of healthcare in the past six months

• About 3 in 10 EU citizens reported that it had become more difficult to bear the costs of general healthcare for themselves or their relatives in the past six months: 11% felt it had become "much more difficult" and 18% thought it had become "somewhat more difficult".
• More than a quarter (28%) of respondents – who considered this question applicable to their personal situation – thought that it had become somewhat or much more difficult to afford childcare in the six months prior to the survey and 35% said the same about the affordability of long-term care for themselves or their relatives.
• Respondents in Greece were the most likely to note that it had become somewhat or much more difficult to bear the costs of healthcare and social-care services in the past six months, while respondents in Sweden and Denmark were each time the least likely to express such a concern.
• Both in March and May 2010, Romania, Portugal, Bulgaria, Latvia and Lithuania consistently had high proportions of respondents who said that things had changed for the worse in terms of affordability of healthcare and social care. The current survey results, however, did show some improvement in perceptions about healthcare and social-care affordability in Latvia and Lithuania, while the opposite was true for Romania, Portugal and Bulgaria.

Expectations about the financial situation of respondents’ households in the next 12 months

• Looking ahead, more than a quarter (28%) of EU citizens said they expected their household’s financial situation to deteriorate during the next 12 months. The current results were more negative than those observed in March 2010 when 23% of EU citizens expected their household’s financial situation to be worse in the coming year (five percentage points lower than the current results).
• Romania and Greece stood out from the pack with approximately 7 in 10 interviewees who expected their household’s financial situation to be worse in the next 12 months. In all other countries, less than half of respondents expected this result – ranging from 9%-14% in the Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland and Sweden) to 42%-45% in Portugal and Cyprus.
• Greece’s current results were similar to those observed in March 2010, while the proportion of Romanians who expected their household’s financial situation to deteriorate in the coming year has doubled compared to March 2010 (from 37% to 73%).
• The proportion of Latvians who expected their household’s financial situation to deteriorate in the coming year has gradually decreased from 65% in July 2009 to 23% in May 2010; this proportion has decreased by 26 percentage points in Lithuania (from 58% to 32%) and by 28 percentage points in Hungary (from 48% to 20%) in that timeframe.

Respondents’ views as to whether they could cope financially in the next 12 months

• Of the four types of payments under review, the largest proportion of EU citizens were worried about an unexpected expense of €1,000 (or its equivalent in national currency): 60% of respondents said there was at least a low risk of not being able to cope with such an unexpected expense in the year to come. Day-to-day expenditures (paying bills, buying food or other daily consumer items) were reasons for anxiety for 44% of EU citizens.
• More than a quarter (27%) of respondents felt that the question about paying rent or mortgage was not relevant to their personal situation and 35% said the same for the question about repaying consumer loans. Among those who did reply, 43% said there was at least a low risk that they would not be able to pay the rent or mortgage on time in the year to come and 48% expressed such pessimism about their ability to repay consumer loans on time.
• While respondents in Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands and Austria were consistently among the least likely to feel that they would be at risk of having financial problems in the next 12 months, those in Latvia, Lithuania, Romania and Greece were consistently seen to be the most likely to feel they were at risk of falling behind with the various payments listed.
• Romania was once more worthy of particular attention. In that country, the proportion of respondents who thought there would be at least a low risk of falling behind with various payments increased significantly, from December 2009 to March 2010, for all four types of expense.

Respondents' ability to afford their current accommodation in the next 12 months

• As in March 2010, respondents in Greece (16%) and Latvia (14%) were the most likely to say that it was very or fairly likely that they would be forced by financial circumstances to leave their accommodation in the 12 months following the survey.
• The proportions of very unlikely responses showed the largest variations between individual countries: 91% of Austrian respondents thought that it would be very unlikely that they would not be able to afford their accommodation during the 12 months following the survey, compared to 53% of respondents in Lithuania.
• Some countries have seen an increase – between March and May 2010 – in the proportion of respondents considering it fairly unlikely that they would have problems meeting the costs of their accommodation, at the expense of those seeing this as being very unlikely.

Views on the employment situation

• The results of the current survey showed no change in EU citizens’ confidence about the employment situation. As in March 2010, about a sixth (18%) of respondents actually in employment were not very or not at all confident that they would be able to keep their current job in the next 12 months and roughly half (49%) thought it would be fairly unlikely or not at all likely that they would be able to find a new position within six months, in the event that they were laid off.
• Pessimism about the ability of respondents to keep their current job in the next 12 months was the highest in eastern and south-eastern European countries (e.g. the Baltic states, Romania, Bulgaria and Greece), while interviewees in the Nordic countries and in central European countries (e.g. the Netherlands, Austria and Luxembourg) were the least negative.
• The highest proportions of pessimistic respondents – i.e. those saying that it would not be at all likely or fairly unlikely that they would find a new job within six months of a potential lay-off – were found in Greece (73%), Spain (68%), Italy (64%) and Ireland (62%). The corresponding results for Finland, Sweden, Belgium, Austria and Denmark were almost a mirror image.
• The current survey confirmed that respondents who stated that their household had insufficient money to pay ordinary bills, buy food or other daily consumer items, on at least one occasion, in the 12 months prior to the survey were also the ones who were the most pessimistic about their ability to keep their current job and about their likelihood of finding a new position in case they were laid off.

The impact of the crisis on future pension entitlements

• Turning to EU citizens’ views about how their pension entitlements might change in the future, 73% either explicitly anticipated lower pension benefits or thought that they would have to postpone their retirement or save more money for their old age.
• A comparison across the four waves showed the largest differences in respondents’ views about whether they would receive lower pension benefits than expected; the largest such increases were seen in Greece (from 32% in July 2009 to 51% in May 2010) and Romania (from 20% to 39%).
• Furthermore, 20% of EU citizens were very worried that their income in old age would be insufficient for them to live a decent life, and 34% were fairly worried by such an outlook.
• In 17 Member States, a majority of respondents were very or fairly worried that their income in old age would not be adequate to enable them to live in dignity. The Danes were the most optimistic about their income in old age: 42% were not at all worried about that.
• The EU results overall showed a small, but gradual increase in the proportion of very or fairly worried respondents: the figure rose from 50% in July 2009 to 54% in May 2010. At the individual country level, such a gradually-increasing trend in the proportion of very or fairly worried interviewees was particularly noticeable in Romania, Greece, Portugal, Spain and the Czech Republic.