SOCIAL CONDITIONS: SOCIAL TRANSFERS REDUCE EU POVERTY RATE, SAYS EUROSTAT.

On average, the EU poverty rate has been reduced to almost one-third. Although social transfers (excluding pensions) reduce the proportion of poor people in all the Member States, the reduction varies considerably depending on the country: the smallest reductions (between 7% and 15%) are in Greece, Italy and Portugal, while the biggest (approximately 60%) are in Denmark and the Netherlands. In the other countries, the reductions are not less than 25%.More than half of EU citizens benefit from social transfers other than pensions. In the EU, 52% of the population live in households benefiting from social transfers other than pensions (unemployment benefit, illness/disability allowance, family allowance, housing benefit, etc.). The percentage is lower in Spain (37%), and even lower in Italy (17%) and Greece (18%). In Denmark, Ireland and the United Kingdom, it exceeds 70%.On average, these transfers account for 9% of the total income of EU citizens. The share is significantly higher (12-16%) in Belgium, Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, whereas it is in a range of 2-5% in Greece, Italy and Portugal. In the EU's four southern Member States, social transfers other than pensions make up only a small share of total income (Greece, Italy and Portugal) and/or the proportion of recipients...