Researchers in the Czech Republic have found high levels of material deprivation in UK households compared with a representative sample of four European countries.

The paper compares material deprivation in households in the UK, Czech Republic, Finland, France and Spain, drawing on official (EU-SILC) data. Material deprivation criteria are divided into four groups: financial stress, housing conditions, availability of consumer durables and basic needs.

Key points

• The highest share of materially deprived households is found in the UK – over one-fifth of all households in 2010 – making it the only country in the sample above the European Union mean.
• Of economically weak households in the UK, 27.5 per cent live in areas with a high crime rate and vandalism.

The paper (Jana Stávková, Nad´a Birčiaková and Jana Turčínková, Material Deprivation in Selected EU Countries According to EU SILC Income Statistics, Working Papers in Business and Economics 19/2012, Mendel University, Czech Republic) is available on the Mendel University website.

Note: EU-SILC = European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions