Multidimensional poverty and income inequality in the EU

Lin Yang and Polly Vizard

Published 21 November 2017

This paper examines the link between the way a country's most deprived individuals experience disadvantage across multiple dimensions of life and how this may relate to its level of income inequality. By expanding the definition of disadvantage beyond income poverty, we overcome some of the limitations presented by the mechanical link between strictly income-based measures of poverty and inequality. We consider whether – and if so, how – three measures of material deprivation and multidimensional poverty relate to income inequality, focusing our analysis on European Union countries.