The 9 poorest countries catching up on income per capita - Issue number 16/2011


Highest income inequalities recorded in Latvia, Romania and Lithuania

In 2009, the group of 9 EU countries with the lowest real household income per capita (L9), covering about one fifth of the total EU population, recorded income per capita 55 % below the EU average. This is 3 percentage points (pp) higher than in 2007, before the EU was touched by the economic recession. In addition, relative income shares of population groups reveal considerable inequalities within Member States. For 2008 the total disposable income of the fifth of the population with the highest incomes in their country of residence was, on average, about 5 times higher than the income of the fifth of the population with the lowest incomes. The lowest income inequalities were found in Slovenia, the Czech Republic and Hungary. The highest inequalities were recorded in Latvia, Romania and Lithuania.