Income inequality across Europe in 2021

The way income is distributed across society determines the extent to which individuals have equal access to the goods and services produced within a national economy. A very important measure of income distribution is the median equivalised disposable income (further referred to as median disposable income) here expressed per inhabitant in purchasing power standard (PPS) . 

In 2021, the median disposable income was 18 019 PPS per inhabitant in the EU. It varied considerably across the EU Member States and ranged from 32 132 PPS in Luxembourg, to 8 703 PPS in Romania.

Source dataset: ilc_di03

The highest levels of median disposable income were recorded in Western and Nordic EU Member States, especially in Luxembourg (32 132 PPS), the Netherlands (24 560 PPS), Austria (24 450 PPS) and Germany (23 401 PPS). On the other hand, the median disposable income was lower in most Southern and Eastern Member States, particularly in Romania (8 703 PPS), Bulgaria (9 375 PPS), Greece (9 917 PPS) and Hungary (9 982 PPS).