Comparing non-monetary deprivation and inequality levels in the EU countries

This paper analizes the links between non-monetary deprivation and inequalities in poverty levels in Europe. Non-monetary deprivation is defined as an enforced lack of a combination of items depicting material living conditions, such as housing conditions, possession of durable goods and capacity to afford basic requirements. The analytical tools selected to compare the deprivation and inequality levels are the direct indicators of deprivation based on the fuzzy set theory and the Gini Index of Poverty (GIP). These two complementary indicators allow respectively to identify the principal characteristics of non-monetary deprivation and the determinants of the inequalities in poverty. The study makes use of data for 22 European Countries based on the 2007 wave of the EU-SILC survey