One European in six reports a constant struggle to pay household bills and three quarters 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 crisis, presented by the EU Commission today. 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 17 June to lift 20 million Europeans out of poverty and social exclusion over the next decade.
In May 2010, 6 in 10 EU citizens said that poverty had increased in their local area in the 12 months prior to the survey and one in six EU citizens (17%) stated that, on at least one occasion in the past 12 months, their household had had no money to pay ordinary bills, buy food or other daily consumer items.
Furthermore, a fifth of EU citizens answered that their household was having difficulties in keeping up with household bills and credit commitments at the time of the survey.
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 that it had become “much more difficult” and 18% thought it had become “somewhat more difficult”.
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