Search Results (28)

Background/Objectives: Unmet dental needs involve cases wherein someone needed dental care and did not receive it. Published data on unmet dental needs are limited. This cross-sectional study investigates unmet dental needs in Greece before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods: For this study, a questionnaire was created and distributed to a non-random sample. It was completed by 277 individuals. The questionnaire was based on the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) tool, which is used to investigate unmet health needs. It was enriched with questions about unmet dental needs before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Results: Of the 277 participants, 23.1% reported unmet dental needs before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, which decreased to 13.4% after the onset of the pandemic. However, a significant proportion of the sample (48.3%) reported no need for dental care after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. It is also worth noting that there were instances of dental visit avoidance, both when symptoms were present and for standard check-up/follow-up purposes, at rates of 17% and 27.8%, respectively. Conclusions: Unmet dental needs occurred at lower rates after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic than those recorded before the pandemic. The main reasons for unmet needs before the pandemic were the cost of dental services and fear of treatment procedures or the visit to the dentist, while after the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, lack of time and fear of coronavirus transmission were added. Full article

Specific aspects and territorial characteristics of migration have been extensively studied, while the primary living conditions of foreigners have been less compared in-depth. Using data from the Labor Force Surveys and EU-Silc for the year 2019, relating to six key aspects of daily life, in this study, foreign-born people living in the five main European countries (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, and the United Kingdom) and the European Union were compared for the frequency of costs (e.g., for welfare services) and benefits (e.g., for employment) for the host society. Subsequently, the comparison of them, made by juxtaposing natives and non-natives, allowed for a definition of the level of primary integration (distance of immigrants from natives on the same aspects). The results show that the degree of congruence between the frequency of costs and that of benefits in the immigrant population is strongly influenced by the economic situation, favorable for Germany and the United Kingdom in 2019, with a lower recurrence of hardship cases among immigrants, but high wealth did not automatically reduce their differences. Instead, a small gap between immigrants and natives may also be due to the progressive impoverishment of the latter (Italian case). Therefore, especially in periods of economic stagnation, the different impact of it and of welfare measures on the immigrant population compared to natives requires the analysis of their actual living conditions, as the traditionally used economic aggregates (especially GDP) do not reveal the disparities in the distribution of resources between the various social and ethnic groups. Full article

Background and Objectives: Cardiovascular disease (CVD) remains a major public health issue worldwide, disproportionately affecting socioeconomically disadvantaged populations due to the social determinants of health (SDOHs). In Western Romania, these populations are particularly vulnerable to CVD. This study aims to investigate the prevalence and impact of cardiovascular risk factors (CVRFs) among socioeconomically disadvantaged individuals in Western Romania and identify the primary CVRFs contributing to the high incidence of CVD within this population. Materials and Methods: A retrospective observational design was employed, utilizing data from the medical records of 1433 eligible individuals. The inclusion criteria were based on Eurostat’s EU-SILC benchmarks, focusing on severe material deprivation, at-risk-of-poverty rates, and low work intensity. Data on demographics, familial and personal medical history, smoking status, blood pressure, glucose, cholesterol, triglycerides, and HbA1c levels were collected. Results: Of the 1433 subjects, 34.75% were male, with a median age of 52 years. Significant conditions included diabetes (7.39%), coronary disease (3.83%), arterial hypertension (35.58%), and dyslipidemia (21.28%). Median ages were higher for those with diabetes (65 vs. 51 years, p < 0.0001), coronary disease (64 vs. 51 years, p < 0.0001), arterial hypertension (65 vs. 43 years, p < 0.0001), and dyslipidemia (66 vs. 47 years, p < 0.0001). BMI (Body Mass Index) classifications showed 33.77% were overweight, 21.21% obese, and 15.07% morbidly obese. Smokers were younger than non-smokers (48 vs. 54 years, p < 0.0001). Conclusions: The findings highlight the significant prevalence of CVRFs among socioeconomically disadvantaged populations in Western Romania. Socioeconomically disadvantaged populations exhibit a significantly higher prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors such as diabetes, impaired glucose regulation, hypertension, and dyslipidemia compared to their before known status. Full article

The minimum wage has become a standard measure in the economic and social policies of countries all over the world. The primary objective of this measure is to guarantee that workers receive a minimum wage that allows them to lead a decent life, thereby reducing inequality and poverty. However, studies on the minimum wage have not focused on assessing the effects on these dimensions but only on employment. The objective of this study is to address this research gap by analysing the effects of minimum wage increases on income inequality and poverty. To this end, firstly, a systematic review of the empirical analyses was conducted using the PRISMA methodology, with a view to ensuring that all empirical evidence was available. Secondly, the Spanish case was examined. The significant increase in minimum wage in Spain in 2019 (21.3% in real terms) presents an invaluable opportunity to utilise this event as a natural experiment to generate new evidence. A difference-in-differences approach was employed to assess the impact of this phenomenon in the period 2018–2019 with microdata from European Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC for Spain). In doing so, two basic scientific contributions were made. The first one, a systematic, exhaustive, and up-to-date literature review (up to June 2024), as there is, to our knowledge, no recent systematic review of this relationship (minimum wage vs. inequality). The available evidence indicates a clear inverse relationship between the minimum wage and inequalities and poverty. The second one, regarding the Spanish case, there has been a dearth of scientific studies on this subject. Thus, this paper provides new scientific evidence demonstrating that a significant increase in the minimum wage can significantly improve the income of low-wage earners, thereby reducing income inequality and in-work poverty. Furthermore, there is evidence of a spillover effect towards income groups closer to the treatment group. Full article

The background of the study is the analysis of social expenditure efficiency in European countries over time. Terminological considerations leading from hedonism and eudaimonism to the concept of subjectively perceived well-being and the Easterlin paradox are necessary to understand the differences in changes in the level of well-being among countries and over time. The purpose of the study is to analyse citizens’ declarations on subjective well-being as an indicator of the efficiency of social policy. The methods used for statistical analysis are conventional and dynamic data envelopment analysis (DEA) techniques. The EU-SILC and OurWorldInData.org data analysed with DEA provided the main results. The study identified significant fluctuations in subjective well-being, with a clear long-term upward trend. Among the surveyed countries, there are those where progress is due to internal factors, while in the Mediterranean countries, external factors predominate. The level of the estimated DEA efficiency indicators (TC and EC) indicate the improvement in input efficiency in a substantive number of countries, e.g., Estonia and Cyprus, along with persistently low indicator values in some member states, Italy and Luxemburg. In conclusion, the author indicated areas in individual countries where attempts to improve social policy are needed to raise and maintain desirable levels of subjective well-being. Full article

This multi-country article focuses particularly on homeownership among the young. After all, relying on European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) data in twelve European countries, we can see that in contrast to the aggregate homeownership rate of ‘all’ households (i.e., no matter what age the households’ heads are) that has remained relatively stable, the aggregate homeownership rate of young households (with heads aged 0–35 years) has fallen substantially in Europe in recent decades. Multiple analyses and quantitative comparisons confirm the stylized fact that acquiring a home has indeed become a challenge for young adult households (also no matter the income quartile in which they fall); rather than that, however, their lowering homeownership rates are simply due to changing sociodemographic characteristics (such as having children later in life and staying longer in education). Moreover, it is unveiled that young tenants and lower income young households are especially disadvantaged with regard to access to the housing market. Through our actual research, we aim to answer the question: Has the government’s fiscal policy strengthened or weakened the declining trend in young people’s homeownership? After all, some evidence exists of an MID having a perverse effect, i.e., capitalizing on higher housing prices. However, multilevel mixed-effects logistic regressions reveal that the use of a mortgage interest deduction (MID) has had a significant positive effect on young adults’ homeownership probability—with the strongest effect for the highest incomes. We believe that all the above results are—in the first place—relevant for governments that are willing to stimulate homeownership. They indicate that some (additional) policy interventions are indeed needed, next to or instead of granting an MID, and that the focus of housing policy should also (and more) be on tenants and those with lower incomes. Full article

Housing quality is a well-established determinant for health and its relevance has been increasing in the context of sustainable development. Prior research has emphasized the importance of adequate housing for the health and comfort of householders. However, this link is still poorly characterized and understood regarding the vulnerable segments of the population. In this study, a mediation analysis is proposed to test and identify the role of energy affordability in the relationship between poor housing and health status. It resorts to microdata from the European Union—Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) database, focusing on the analysis of Portugal as the case study. Research findings confirm the role of energy affordability as a mediator. The research findings supported the energy efficiency as a direct pathway with protective and preventive effect for poor health, followed by energy affordability as a mediated or indirect pathway. A complementary approach that addresses energy efficiency and energy poverty should be pursued to maximize health risk reduction. Full article

Measures of inequality can be used to illustrate inequality between and within groups, but the choice of the appropriate measure can have different implications. This study focused on the Mean Logarithmic Deviation, the measure proposed by Theil and based on the techniques of statistical information theory. The MLD was selected because of its attractive properties: fulfillment of the principle of monotonicity and the possibility of additive decomposition. The following study objectives were formulated: (1) to assess the degree of inequality in the population and in the distinguished subgroups, (2) to determine the extent to which education and age influence the level of inequality, and (3) to ascertain what factors contribute to changes in the level of inequality in Poland. The study confirmed an association between the level of education and the average income of the groups distinguished on this basis. The education level of the household head remains an important determinant of household income inequality in Poland, despite the decline in the “educational bonus”. The study also found that differences in the age of the household head had a smaller effect on income inequality than the level of education. However, it can be concluded that the higher share of older people may contribute to an increase in income inequality between groups, as the income from pension in Poland is more homogeneous than the income from work in younger groups. Moreover, the current paper seeks to situate Theil’s approach in the context of scholarly writings since 1967. Full article

The aim was to explore the factors associated with the financial burden (FB) of medical care, dental care, and medicines among older-aged people in Slovenia, Serbia, and Croatia using EU-SILC 2017. The highest frequency of FB of medical care and medicines was in Croatia (50% and 69.1%, respectively) and of dental care in Slovenia (48.5%). The multivariate logistic regression analysis with FB as an outcome variable showed that the FB of medical care was associated with being married (OR: 1.54), reporting not severe (OR: 1.51) and severe limitations in daily activities (OR: 2.05), having higher education (OR: 2.03), and heavy burden of housing costs (OR: 0.51) in Slovenia, with very bad self-perceived health (OR: 5.23), having the slight (OR: 0.69) or heavy (OR: 0.47) burden of housing costs, making ends meet fairly easily or with some difficulty (OR: 3.58) or with difficulty or great difficulty (OR: 6.80) in Serbia, and with being married (OR: 1.43), having heavy burden of housing costs (OR: 0.62), and making ends meet fairly easily or with some difficulty (OR: 2.08) or with difficulty or great difficulty (OR: 2.52) in Croatia. The older-aged have the FB of healthcare, especially the poorest or those with health problems. Full article

This study explores the relevance of economic factors (e.g., a household’s economic capacity and the prevailing economic context) to understand the relationship between the partnership status and the health of Spanish adult women and men (age 30–59). To do so, it draws on cross-sectional data from the Spanish sample of the European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) for the years 2005, 2010, and 2015 (i.e., before, during, and after the 2008–2012 economic recession). The results reveal dissimilar patterns of association between partnership status and both the health of, and the economic difficulties faced by Spanish women and men in each of the three years studied. Most notably, the partnership status of Spanish women has a greater impact on their likelihood of experiencing economic difficulties and poor health than does that of their male counterparts. Additionally, women are also more likely to experience economic difficulties during and after the economic recession. The disadvantageous situation of Spanish women in the public sphere is shown to have a negative impact on their ability to cope with the economic difficulties associated with the end of a union and a contextual recession. Full article

Understanding the impacts of tourism on the quality of life of residents is a priority for the sustainable tourism agenda, and is especially relevant to the COVID-19 recovery period. However, the evidence is poor, and it is not clear whether the outcomes vary among sociodemographic groups. This study fills this gap by proposing a pan-European analysis of the effects of tourism stays per 1000 residents (as a measure of tourism pressure) on self-perceived health at a regional level, based on data from Eurostat, the EU-SILC (European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions survey), and the LFS (Labor Force Survey). Multilevel models with random effects were used, including three levels: region, time, and region–time. Results show that tourism pressure may benefit self-reported health but only among residents aged over 50 years old living in rural contexts, or over 65 living in low density urban areas. As for younger groups (under 50) living in high density cities, tourism is longitudinally associated with worsened self-reported health. These results, which are supported by instrumental-variable estimations, suggest that urban residents and younger groups do not benefit from tourism. This might be due to a number of side effects related to increased living costs, precarious labour, and conflicts related to public space. Therefore, our findings challenge the narrative that urban tourism universally improves residents’ quality of life. Considering the global urgency of creating healthier and more equitable post-COVID-19 cities and societies, tourism should be considered together with health and equity dimensions. Full article

This paper analyses multidimensional fuzzy monetary and non-monetary deprivation in households with children by using two different definitions: households with children under 14 years old, and the EU definition of households with dependent children. Eight dimensions of non-monetary deprivation were found using 34 items from the EU-SILC 2016 survey. Dealing with subpopulations, it is essential to compute standard errors for the presented estimators. Thus, a relevant added value of the paper is fuzzy poverty measures and associated standard errors, which were also computed. Moreover, a comparison was made between the measures obtained concerning the two subpopulations across countries. With a focus on Italy, an Italian macro-region is presented. Full article

The Spanish public retirement pension system, the same as that of many European countries, faces two important risks in the long term. On the one hand, the sustainability of the current pay-as-you-go system and, on the other hand, the ability to maintain an acceptable standard of living for the retired population. This paper presents a study on the current situation of the Spanish public retirement pension system and its effect on the future retired population. In recent years, the concern for the long-term sustainability of the system, which is based on pay-as-you-go and defined benefit, has been very present. For this reason, two major reforms were carried out in 2011 and 2013; however, different investigations have indicated the reduction in future retirement pensions as a possible consequence. Regarding this dilemma, this paper aims to study the future poverty risk of the retired population due to the current formulation of the system, by conducting, for this purpose, an analysis of the purchasing power of future pensioners based on the EU-Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (SILC) 2016 of the National Institute of Statistics of Spain. As a result, a future reduction in the replacement rate was observed, affecting the younger population to a greater extent, as well as an increase in poverty in pensioner households using two different scenarios. Full article

The present study analyzes the efficiency of social expenditure by EU-28 countries within the period 2014–2018 to reduce poverty. The data are provided by programs European Union Statistics on Income and Living Conditions (EU-SILC) and European System of Integrated Social Protection Statistics (ESSPROS) of Eurostat. We first calculate the Debreu–Farrell (DF) productivity measure similarly to our previous work, published in 2020, for each EU-28 country and rank these poverty policies (PPPs) on the basis of that efficiency index. We also quantify the intensity of the relationship between efficiency and the proportion that each item of social expending suppose within the overall. When evaluating public policies within a given number of years, we have available a longitudinal set of crisp observations (usually annual) for each embedded variable and country. The observed value of variables for any country for the whole period 2014–2018 is quantified as fuzzy numbers (FNs) that are built up by aggregating crisp annual observations on those variables within that period. To rank the efficiency of PPPs, we use the concept of the expected value of an FN. To assess the relation between DF index and the relative effort done in each type of social expense, we interpret Pearson’s correlation as a linguistic variable and also use Pearson’s correlation index between FNs proposed by D.H. Hong in 2006. Full article

Energy poverty is high up on national and European Union policy agendas. A number of possible indicators to measure the issue have been identified in the literature, but comparable data with European coverage is scarce. The EU Commission thus proposes four independent indicators on the “EU Energy Poverty Observatory” based on self-reported items from the pan-European surveys on income and living conditions (SILC) and household budgets (HBS). It is of increasing public interest to analyse social impacts of energy policies, and quantify energy poverty indicators also from modelling. This paper first shortly outlines how the expenditure-based indicators using HBS micro data may be directly linked to existing macroeconomic models through their defining variables (energy expenditure and income). As endogenous modelling based on micro data is difficult, the link may be country-specific elasticities. The main contribution of the paper is a systematic in-depth sensitivity analysis of the two indicators to changes in income and energy expenditure following varying patterns in the underlying distributions of the micro data. The results may be used by future soft links to models. The results display sometimes counterintuitive effects. We find that whether these indicators increase/decrease after a change of income or energy expenditure largely depends on the specific country-wise income and energy expenditure distribution between households on a micro-level. Due to their definition, the examined indicators are especially sensitive, when income changes alter the indicator threshold values, which in these cases are the median values in underlying distributions. We discuss these findings and relate them to several indicator shortcomings and potential remedies through changes in indicator definition. Full article