As of 2023, the European countries who had the greatest share of their national income taken by the top 10 percent of earners were Turkey, Russia, and Georgia, with high earners in these countries taking home around half of all income. By contrast, the top decile in Czechia, Iceland, and Slovakia took home a share of national income almost half as large, at between 26 and 29 percent. On average, the top 10 percent in Europe took home over a third of national income, while the bottom half earned less than a fifth.

European Union - Inequality of income distribution was 5.07 in December of 2019, according to the EUROSTAT. Trading Economics provides the current actual value, an historical data chart and related indicators for European Union - Inequality of income distribution - last updated from the EUROSTAT on September of 2025. Historically, European Union - Inequality of income distribution reached a record high of 5.22 in December of 2015 and a record low of 4.94 in December of 2010.

Women and Men in Spain: Distribution of households by income level and type of household in the EU. Annual. National.

The ratio of the income of the top 20 percent of the income distribution to that of the bottom 20 percent has fallen been on a downward trend in the European Union since 2015. From its recent high of 5.22 in 2015, the ratio has now fallen to 4.66 in 2024.

This statistic displays the income distribution of the poorest ** percent of earners in each European Union (EU) country. In 2015 the highest share of national equalized income that the lowest quartile group earned emerged from Czechia at **** percent of the national income. This was followed by Finland and Slovenia at **** percent and **** percent respectively.

This table describes the income distribution of the sector households in the national accounts over different household groups. Households are identified by main source of income, living situation, household composition, age classes of the head of the household, income class by 20% groups, and net worth class by 20% groups.

Data available from: 2015.

Status of the figures: All data are provisional.

Changes as of October 19th 2023: The figures of 2015-2020 are revised, because national accounts figures are changed due to the revision policy of Statistics Netherlands. Results for 2021 are added to the table.

When will new figures be published? New figures will be released in October 2024.

The World Income Inequality database is part of the United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER) and contains information on income inequality for 189 developed, developing and transition countries.

The European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) is an instrument aimed at collecting timely and comparable cross-sectional and longitudinal multidimensional microdata on income, poverty and social exclusion. It is the European Union (EU) reference source for comparative statistics on income distribution and social exclusion at European level, particularly in the context of the 'Programme of Community action to encourage cooperation between Member States to combat social exclusion' and for producing structural indicators on social cohesion for the annual spring report to the European Council.

The EU-SILC instrument aims to provide two types of data: cross-sectional data pertaining to a given time or a certain time period with variables on income, poverty, social exclusion and other living conditions, and longitudinal data pertaining to individual-level changes over time, observed periodically over, typically, a four years period. Further information may be found on the EU-SILC webpage.

Users should note that only the cross-sectional data are currently available from the UK Data Archive, and these data only cover UK. The Great Britain component of the EU-SILC dataset was collected by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) as part of the General Lifestyle Survey (GLF) (held at the Archive under Special Licence access conditions - see GN 33403). Following the closure of the GLF in 2012 the cross-sectional data have been collected via the Family Resources Survey (FRS) (held at the Archive under GN 33283). The FRS also provides the first wave of the EU-SILC longitudinal element, also carried out by ONS. The Northern Ireland component is collected by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) as part of the Living Conditions Survey (LCS) (not currently held at the Archive). The EU-SILC dataset has been produced in accordance with EU regulations under guidance from Eurostat. In addition, every year a European Commission regulation describing the list of secondary target variables (annual modules) is published (see Main Topics section for details).

The accompanying documentation for EU-SILC comprises: a Guidelines document that describes the survey, the variables including the module and recommendations given to the EU member states for data collection; and a document detailing the differences between the data collected and that held in Eurostat's User Database (UDB) (as described in the guidelines) for all member states, including the already established issues or particularities for the UK.

The Gini coefficient is a measure of income inequality, where a value of 0 would indicate perfect equality in the income distribution (i.e. everyone earns the same) and a value of 100 would indicate perfect inequality (one person earns everything). The Gini coefficient in both the European Union as a whole, as well as the Eurozone currency area, has been on a downward trajectory since its previous peak in 2014, when it reached a peak of 30.9 in both. As of 2024, the Gini coefficient in the EU and Eurozone has hit a new low, with values of 29.4 and 29.9 respectively, indicating that income inequality has fallen in the blocs over the past decade.

Inequality of income distribution S80/S20 income quintile share ratio - EU-SILC survey

Dataset replaced by: http://data.europa.eu/euodp/data/dataset/6lGHMjcpw6T20iNEnvzeOA The ratio of total income received by the 20 % of the population with the highest income (top quintile) to that received by the 20 % of the population with the lowest income (lowest quintile). Income must be understood as equivalised disposable income.

The ratio of total income received by the 20 % of the population with the highest income (top quintile) to that received by the 20 % of the population with the lowest income (lowest quintile). Income must be understood as equivalised disposable income.

Abstract

In 2011, the EU-SILC instrument covered all EU Member States plus Iceland, Turkey, Norway, Switzerland and Croatia. EU-SILC has become the EU reference source for comparative statistics on income distribution and social exclusion at European level, particularly in the context of the "Program of Community action to encourage cooperation between Member States to combat social exclusion" and for producing structural indicators on social cohesion for the annual spring report to the European Council. The first priority is to be given to the delivery of comparable, timely and high quality cross-sectional data.

There are two types of datasets: 1) Cross-sectional data pertaining to fixed time periods, with variables on income, poverty, social exclusion and living conditions. 2) Longitudinal data pertaining to individual-level changes over time, observed periodically - usually over four years.

Social exclusion and housing-condition information is collected at household level. Income at a detailed component level is collected at personal level, with some components included in the "Household" section. Labor, education and health observations only apply to persons aged 16 and over. EU-SILC was established to provide data on structural indicators of social cohesion (at-risk-of-poverty rate, S80/S20 and gender pay gap) and to provide relevant data for the two 'open methods of coordination' in the field of social inclusion and pensions in Europe.

The 3rd revision of the 2011 Cross-Sectional User Database as released in September 2014 is documented here.

Geographic coverage

The survey covers following countries: Austria; Belgium; Bulgaria; Croatia; Cyprus; Czech Republic; Denmark; Estonia; Finland; France; Germany; Greece; Spain; Ireland; Italy; Latvia; Lithuania; Luxembourg; Hungary; Malta; Netherlands; Poland; Portugal; Romania; Slovenia; Slovakia; Sweden; United Kingdom; Iceland; Norway; Turkey; Switzerland

Small parts of the national territory amounting to no more than 2% of the national population and the national territories listed below may be excluded from EU-SILC: France - French Overseas Departments and territories; Netherlands - The West Frisian Islands with the exception of Texel; Ireland - All offshore islands with the exception of Achill, Bull, Cruit, Gorumna, Inishnee, Lettermore, Lettermullan and Valentia; United Kingdom - Scotland north of the Caledonian Canal, the Scilly Islands.

Analysis unit

• Households;
• Individuals 16 years and older.

Universe

The survey covered all household members over 16 years old. Persons living in collective households and in institutions are generally excluded from the target population.

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

On the basis of various statistical and practical considerations and the precision requirements for the most critical variables, the minimum effective sample sizes to be achieved were defined. Sample size for the longitudinal component refers, for any pair of consecutive years, to the number of households successfully interviewed in the first year in which all or at least a majority of the household members aged 16 or over are successfully interviewed in both the years.

For the cross-sectional component, the plans are to achieve the minimum effective sample size of around 131.000 households in the EU as a whole (137.000 including Iceland and Norway). The allocation of the EU sample among countries represents a compromise between two objectives: the production of results at the level of individual countries, and production for the EU as a whole. Requirements for the longitudinal data will be less important. For this component, an effective sample size of around 98.000 households (103.000 including Iceland and Norway) is planned.

Member States using registers for income and other data may use a sample of persons (selected respondents) rather than a sample of complete households in the interview survey. The minimum effective sample size in terms of the number of persons aged 16 or over to be interviewed in detail is in this case taken as 75 % of the figures shown in columns 3 and 4 of the table I, for the cross-sectional and longitudinal components respectively.

The reference is to the effective sample size, which is the size required if the survey were based on simple random sampling (design effect in relation to the 'risk of poverty rate' variable = 1.0). The actual sample sizes will have to be larger to the extent that the design effects exceed 1.0 and to compensate for all kinds of non-response. Furthermore, the sample size refers to the number of valid households which are households for which, and for all members of which, all or nearly all the required information has been obtained. For countries with a sample of persons design, information on income and other data shall be collected for the household of each selected respondent and for all its members.

At the beginning, a cross-sectional representative sample of households is selected. It is divided into say 4 sub-samples, each by itself representative of the whole population and similar in structure to the whole sample. One sub-sample is purely cross-sectional and is not followed up after the first round. Respondents in the second sub-sample are requested to participate in the panel for 2 years, in the third sub-sample for 3 years, and in the fourth for 4 years. From year 2 onwards, one new panel is introduced each year, with request for participation for 4 years. In any one year, the sample consists of 4 sub-samples, which together constitute the cross-sectional sample. In year 1 they are all new samples; in all subsequent years, only one is new sample. In year 2, three are panels in the second year; in year 3, one is a panel in the second year and two in the third year; in subsequent years, one is a panel for the second year, one for the third year, and one for the fourth (final) year.

According to the Commission Regulation on sampling and tracing rules, the selection of the sample will be drawn according to the following requirements:

1. For all components of EU-SILC (whether survey or register based), the crosssectional and longitudinal (initial sample) data shall be based on a nationally representative probability sample of the population residing in private households within the country, irrespective of language, nationality or legal residence status. All private households and all persons aged 16 and over within the household are eligible for the operation.
2. Representative probability samples shall be achieved both for households, which form the basic units of sampling, data collection and data analysis, and for individual persons in the target population.
3. The sampling frame and methods of sample selection shall ensure that every individual and household in the target population is assigned a known and non-zero probability of selection.
4. By way of exception, paragraphs 1 to 3 shall apply in Germany exclusively to the part of the sample based on probability sampling according to Article 8 of the Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council (EC) No 1177/2003 concerning

Community Statistics on Income and Living Conditions. Article 8 of the EU-SILC Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council mentions: 1. The cross-sectional and longitudinal data shall be based on nationally representative probability samples. 2. By way of exception to paragraph 1, Germany shall supply cross-sectional data based on a nationally representative probability sample for the first time for the year 2008. For the year 2005, Germany shall supply data for one fourth based on probability sampling and for three fourths based on quota samples, the latter to be progressively replaced by random selection so as to achieve fully representative probability sampling by 2008. For the longitudinal component, Germany shall supply for the year 2006 one third of longitudinal data (data for year 2005 and 2006) based on probability sampling and two thirds based on quota samples. For the year 2007, half of the longitudinal data relating to years 2005, 2006 and 2007 shall be based on probability sampling and half on quota sample. After 2007 all of the longitudinal data shall be based on probability sampling.

Detailed information about sampling is available in Quality Reports in Documentation.

Mode of data collection

Mixed

European Union - Income inequality for older people was 4.11 in December of 2024, according to the EUROSTAT. Trading Economics provides the current actual value, an historical data chart and related indicators for European Union - Income inequality for older people - last updated from the EUROSTAT on September of 2025. Historically, European Union - Income inequality for older people reached a record high of 4.24 in December of 2019 and a record low of 3.97 in December of 2013.

European Union - Income inequality for older people: Males was 4.16 in December of 2024, according to the EUROSTAT. Trading Economics provides the current actual value, an historical data chart and related indicators for European Union - Income inequality for older people: Males - last updated from the EUROSTAT on September of 2025. Historically, European Union - Income inequality for older people: Males reached a record high of 4.25 in December of 2019 and a record low of 4.02 in December of 2013.

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.The European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) is an instrument aimed at collecting timely and comparable cross-sectional and longitudinal multidimensional microdata on income, poverty and social exclusion. It is the European Union (EU) reference source for comparative statistics on income distribution and social exclusion at European level, particularly in the context of the 'Programme of Community action to encourage cooperation between Member States to combat social exclusion' and for producing structural indicators on social cohesion for the annual spring report to the European Council. The EU-SILC instrument aims to provide two types of data: cross-sectional data pertaining to a given time or a certain time period with variables on income, poverty, social exclusion and other living conditions, and longitudinal data pertaining to individual-level changes over time, observed periodically over, typically, a four years period. Further information may be found on the EU-SILC webpage. Users should note that only the cross-sectional data are currently available from the UK Data Archive, and these data only cover UK. The Great Britain component of the EU-SILC dataset was collected by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) as part of the General Lifestyle Survey (GLF) (held at the Archive under Special Licence access conditions - see GN 33403). Following the closure of the GLF in 2012 the cross-sectional data have been collected via the Family Resources Survey (FRS) (held at the Archive under GN 33283). The FRS also provides the first wave of the EU-SILC longitudinal element, also carried out by ONS. The Northern Ireland component is collected by the Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) as part of the Living Conditions Survey (LCS) (not currently held at the Archive). The EU-SILC dataset has been produced in accordance with EU regulations under guidance from Eurostat. In addition, every year a European Commission regulation describing the list of secondary target variables (annual modules) is published (see Main Topics section for details). The accompanying documentation for EU-SILC comprises: a Guidelines document that describes the survey, the variables including the module and recommendations given to the EU member states for data collection; and a document detailing the differences between the data collected and that held in Eurostat's User Database (UDB) (as described in the guidelines) for all member states, including the already established issues or particularities for the UK. Main Topics:The data contains interview survey data for adults aged 16 years and over, plus basic demographic information for children in the register files. These variables cover topics such as:basic personal and household datachild caredwelling type, tenure status and housing conditionshousing costs and amenitieshousing and non-housing related arrearsnon-monetary household deprivation indicatorsphysical and social environmenthousehold and personal level incomeeducationhealth and access to healthcarelabour informationAdditionally, each year there is an annual module. The modules for 2008 and 2009 are:2008: over-indebtedness and financial exclusion2009: material deprivation Multi-stage stratified random sample Compilation or synthesis of existing material These data were collected by face-to-face interview within the GLF, with a small number of proxy conversions carried out by the ONS telephone unit.

Abstract

In 2011, the EU-SILC instrument covered all EU Member States plus Iceland, Turkey, Norway, Switzerland and Croatia. EU-SILC has become the EU reference source for comparative statistics on income distribution and social exclusion at European level, particularly in the context of the "Program of Community action to encourage cooperation between Member States to combat social exclusion" and for producing structural indicators on social cohesion for the annual spring report to the European Council. The first priority is to be given to the delivery of comparable, timely and high quality cross-sectional data.

There are two types of datasets: 1) Cross-sectional data pertaining to fixed time periods, with variables on income, poverty, social exclusion and living conditions. 2) Longitudinal data pertaining to individual-level changes over time, observed periodically - usually over four years.

Social exclusion and housing-condition information is collected at household level. Income at a detailed component level is collected at personal level, with some components included in the "Household" section. Labor, education and health observations only apply to persons aged 16 and over. EU-SILC was established to provide data on structural indicators of social cohesion (at-risk-of-poverty rate, S80/S20 and gender pay gap) and to provide relevant data for the two 'open methods of coordination' in the field of social inclusion and pensions in Europe.

The 5th version 2011 Cross-Sectional User Database as released in July 2015 is documented here.

Geographic coverage

The survey covers following countries: Austria; Belgium; Bulgaria; Croatia; Cyprus; Czech Republic; Denmark; Estonia; Finland; France; Germany; Greece; Spain; Ireland; Italy; Latvia; Lithuania; Luxembourg; Hungary; Malta; Netherlands; Poland; Portugal; Romania; Slovenia; Slovakia; Sweden; United Kingdom; Iceland; Norway; Turkey; Switzerland

Small parts of the national territory amounting to no more than 2% of the national population and the national territories listed below may be excluded from EU-SILC: France - French Overseas Departments and territories; Netherlands - The West Frisian Islands with the exception of Texel; Ireland - All offshore islands with the exception of Achill, Bull, Cruit, Gorumna, Inishnee, Lettermore, Lettermullan and Valentia; United Kingdom - Scotland north of the Caledonian Canal, the Scilly Islands.

Analysis unit

• Households;
• Individuals 16 years and older.

Universe

The survey covered all household members over 16 years old. Persons living in collective households and in institutions are generally excluded from the target population.

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

On the basis of various statistical and practical considerations and the precision requirements for the most critical variables, the minimum effective sample sizes to be achieved were defined. Sample size for the longitudinal component refers, for any pair of consecutive years, to the number of households successfully interviewed in the first year in which all or at least a majority of the household members aged 16 or over are successfully interviewed in both the years.

For the cross-sectional component, the plans are to achieve the minimum effective sample size of around 131.000 households in the EU as a whole (137.000 including Iceland and Norway). The allocation of the EU sample among countries represents a compromise between two objectives: the production of results at the level of individual countries, and production for the EU as a whole. Requirements for the longitudinal data will be less important. For this component, an effective sample size of around 98.000 households (103.000 including Iceland and Norway) is planned.

Member States using registers for income and other data may use a sample of persons (selected respondents) rather than a sample of complete households in the interview survey. The minimum effective sample size in terms of the number of persons aged 16 or over to be interviewed in detail is in this case taken as 75 % of the figures shown in columns 3 and 4 of the table I, for the cross-sectional and longitudinal components respectively.

The reference is to the effective sample size, which is the size required if the survey were based on simple random sampling (design effect in relation to the 'risk of poverty rate' variable = 1.0). The actual sample sizes will have to be larger to the extent that the design effects exceed 1.0 and to compensate for all kinds of non-response. Furthermore, the sample size refers to the number of valid households which are households for which, and for all members of which, all or nearly all the required information has been obtained. For countries with a sample of persons design, information on income and other data shall be collected for the household of each selected respondent and for all its members.

At the beginning, a cross-sectional representative sample of households is selected. It is divided into say 4 sub-samples, each by itself representative of the whole population and similar in structure to the whole sample. One sub-sample is purely cross-sectional and is not followed up after the first round. Respondents in the second sub-sample are requested to participate in the panel for 2 years, in the third sub-sample for 3 years, and in the fourth for 4 years. From year 2 onwards, one new panel is introduced each year, with request for participation for 4 years. In any one year, the sample consists of 4 sub-samples, which together constitute the cross-sectional sample. In year 1 they are all new samples; in all subsequent years, only one is new sample. In year 2, three are panels in the second year; in year 3, one is a panel in the second year and two in the third year; in subsequent years, one is a panel for the second year, one for the third year, and one for the fourth (final) year.

According to the Commission Regulation on sampling and tracing rules, the selection of the sample will be drawn according to the following requirements:

1. For all components of EU-SILC (whether survey or register based), the crosssectional and longitudinal (initial sample) data shall be based on a nationally representative probability sample of the population residing in private households within the country, irrespective of language, nationality or legal residence status. All private households and all persons aged 16 and over within the household are eligible for the operation.
2. Representative probability samples shall be achieved both for households, which form the basic units of sampling, data collection and data analysis, and for individual persons in the target population.
3. The sampling frame and methods of sample selection shall ensure that every individual and household in the target population is assigned a known and non-zero probability of selection.
4. By way of exception, paragraphs 1 to 3 shall apply in Germany exclusively to the part of the sample based on probability sampling according to Article 8 of the Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council (EC) No 1177/2003 concerning

Community Statistics on Income and Living Conditions. Article 8 of the EU-SILC Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council mentions: 1. The cross-sectional and longitudinal data shall be based on nationally representative probability samples. 2. By way of exception to paragraph 1, Germany shall supply cross-sectional data based on a nationally representative probability sample for the first time for the year 2008. For the year 2005, Germany shall supply data for one fourth based on probability sampling and for three fourths based on quota samples, the latter to be progressively replaced by random selection so as to achieve fully representative probability sampling by 2008. For the longitudinal component, Germany shall supply for the year 2006 one third of longitudinal data (data for year 2005 and 2006) based on probability sampling and two thirds based on quota samples. For the year 2007, half of the longitudinal data relating to years 2005, 2006 and 2007 shall be based on probability sampling and half on quota sample. After 2007 all of the longitudinal data shall be based on probability sampling.

Detailed information about sampling is available in Quality Reports in Related Materials.

Mode of data collection

Mixed

The ratio of total income received by the 20 % of the population with the highest income (top quintile) to that received by the 20 % of the population with the lowest income (lowest quintile). Income must be understood as equivalised disposable income.

The SOECBIAS data set is an output of the interdisciplinary research project SOECBIAS, funded by the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs in Germany and run at the Universität Hamburg. SOECBIAS studies income perceptions and redistributive preferences combining inequality research with social policy and welfare state research, in economics and sociology. SOECBIAS addresses three main questions: How do Europeans perceive national and European social policy? What explains the perception of one’s own income position within the EU income distribution? What are the consequences of these perceptions for the assessment of redistribution measures? The dataset includes a survey experiment in four European countries that investigates the similarity of income perceptions at the supra-national level of the EU and that tests the effect of informing participants about their income position on preferences towards social policy measures in Europe.

Using four waves of the European Social Survey (179,273 individuals from 29 countries) the authors analyze the association of reduction of income inequality by governmental taxes and transfers (redistribution) with subjective well-being. Their results provide evidence that people in Europe are negatively affected by income inequality, whereas reduction of inequality has a positive effect on well-being. Since the authors simultaneously estimate the effects of income inequality and its reduction, their results might indicate that not only the outcome (inequality), but also the procedure (redistribution) that leads to the outcome influences subjective well-being. Their results also show that the positive effect of redistribution is stronger for less affluent members of the society and left-wing oriented individuals. While post-government inequality seems to have no significant effect in Western Europe, its impact is negative and highly significant in Eastern Europe.