Living standards falling in most Member States.
Date: 2013-03-29
Institutions: Eurostat
Subjects: EU Member State, EU statistics, standard of living

Population and social conditions 

Author:  Emilio DI MEGLIO 

S t a t i s t i c s   i n   f o c u s  
8/2013 

Living standards falling in most Member States 

Living standards, as measured by the median 
equivalised disposable income, fell in  
15 Member States in 2010 compared with a year 
earlier, after adjusting for inflation. The median 
is the point on the income scale at which half 
earn more and half earn less, and equivalised 
disposable income corresponds to the income 
that households have available for spending and 
saving, adjusted for household size and 
composition. 

The sharpest drops occurred in Greece, where 
median income decreased by 12.3 %, Bulgaria 
(-6.6 %), Latvia (-6.1 %) and Spain (-5.8 %) 
(Figure 1).  

because income in the top quintile decreased less 
or increased more than in the bottom quintile. 
Each quintile represents 20 % of the population 
and the first or bottom quintile represents the 
part of the population with the lowest income 
while the fifth or top quintile represents the part 
with the highest income. 

When looking at households’ material 
conditions, in 2011 around 10 % of the EU 
population reported that they could not afford a 
meal with meat, chicken, fish or a vegetarian 
equivalent every second day. This represents an 
increase of 1 percentage point (pp) compared 
with 2010. 

In the vast majority of Member States the 
median income fell most for the unemployed 
and least for people in employment. 

All figures are based on the latest EU-SILC 
(Statistics on Income and Living Conditions) 
data collected in 2011.1 

Income decreased in the bottom quintile of the 
income distribution in most Member States. In 
15 Member States, income inequality increased 

1 See methodological notes 

Figure 1: Change in median income in 2010 compared with 2009 after adjusting for inflation 

4.0%

2.0%

0.0%

-2.0%

-4.0%

-6.0%

-8.0%

-10.0%

-12.0%

-14.0%

EL BG LV ES EE PT RO LT LU FR UK IT NL CY CZ DE SI HU BE FI DK SE AT SK PL MT

IS CH NO

HR

Note: data not available for IE  

Source: Eurostat (online data codes: ilc_di03  and prc_hicp_aind ) 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                                      
 
 
Household disposable income corresponds to 
income from market sources and cash benefits 
after deduction of direct taxes and regular inter-
household cash transfers. It can be considered as 
the income available to the household for 
spending or saving. The living standards 
achievable by a household with a given 
disposable income depend on how many people 
and of what age live in the household. 

Household income is thus ‘equivalised’ i.e. 
adjusted for household size and composition so 
that the incomes of all households can be looked 
at on a comparable basis. Equivalised disposable 
income is an indicator of the economic resources 
available to a standardised household. For a 
lone-person household it is equal to household 
income. For a household comprising more than 
one person, it is an indicator of the household 
income that would be needed by a lone person 
household to enjoy the same level of economic 
wellbeing. This income concept, based on the 
assumption of income sharing within the 
household, and of economies of scale resulting 
from living together, is used in this report.  

The latest data, collected during 2011, include 
income for the reference period 1 January –  
31 December 2010 and non-income variables 
referring to 2011.2  

The median is the income value which divides a 
population, when ranked by income, into two 
equal-sized groups: exactly 50 % of people fall 
below that value and 50 % are above it. When 
analysing income, this is the measure most 
commonly used to represent average income 
because the highly skewed nature of the income 
distribution can lead to the very high incomes of 
a few having a disproportionate impact on the 
mean. Poverty thresholds are calculated on the 
basis of the median equivalised disposable 
income. 

Median equivalised disposable income in 
national currencies fell in eight Member States in 
nominal terms (without adjusting for inflation) in 
2010 compared with a year earlier (Table 1). 

The sharpest drops occurred in Greece, where 
median income fell by 8.2 %, Latvia (-7.2 %) 
and Spain (-4.0 %). It increased the most in 
Poland (+5.3 %), Hungary (+5.1 %) and Malta 
(+4.7 %). 

However, nominal changes do not tell the whole 
story about income changes as inflation should 
also be considered. 

2 See methodological notes 

2 

Median incomes have thus been adjusted by the 
annual rate of change in the Harmonised Index 
of Consumer Prices (HICP) for 2010 to obtain 
real changes.  

After adjusting for inflation, median equivalised 
disposable income in national currencies fell in 
15 Member States in 2010 compared with a year 
earlier (Table 1 and Figure 1). 

The sharpest drop in real terms occurred in 
Greece, where the median equivalised disposable 
income fell by 12.3 %. It fell by 6.6 % in 
Bulgaria, 6.1 % in Latvia, 5.8 % in Spain, 4.8 % 
in Estonia and 4.4 % in Portugal. A sharp 
decrease of 9.7 % was also registered in Iceland. 
Median income stagnated or increased in real 
terms by less than 1 % in Belgium, Denmark, 
Germany, Hungary, Slovenia, Finland and  

Table 1: Median equivalised disposable 
income in 2010 and change 2009-2010 

Currency

Median 
income 
2010

Change in 
nominal 
terms 
2010/2009

HICP 2010 Change in 
real terms 
2010/2009

BE
DE
IE
EL
ES
FR
IT
CY
LU
MT
NL
AT
PT
SI
SK
FI

BG
CZ
DK
EE
LV
LT
HU
PL
RO
SE
UK

IS
NO
CH

HR

EUR
EUR
EUR
EUR
EUR
EUR
EUR
EUR
EUR
EUR
EUR
EUR
EUR
EUR
EUR
EUR

BGN
CZK
DKK
EEK
LVL
LTL
HUF
PLN
RON
SEK
GBP

ISK
NOK
CHF

20 008
19 043
:
10 986
12 514
19 995
15 972
17 207
32 538
10 862
20 310
21 319
8 410
11 999
6 306
21 826

5 674
188 400
196 566
87 588
2 972
13 827
1 249 250
20 075
8 915
214 650
14 874

3 071 616
291 777
46 842

2.8%
1.3%
:
-8.2%
-4.0%
-0.3%
0.2%
2.2%
0.6%
4.7%
0.1%
3.4%
-3.1%
2.2%
3.1%
2.2%

-3.8%
1.0%
2.8%
-2.3%
-7.2%
-1.3%
5.1%
5.3%
3.2%
2.6%
1.4%

-2.9%
3.2%
1.2%

HRK

40 400

-3.8%

2.3%
1.2%
-1.6%
4.7%
2.0%
1.7%
1.6%
2.6%
2.8%
2.0%
0.9%
1.7%
1.4%
2.1%
0.7%
1.7%

3.0%
1.2%
2.2%
2.7%
-1.2%
1.2%
4.7%
2.7%
6.1%
1.9%
3.3%

7.5%
2.3%
0.6%

1.1%

0.5%
0.1%
:
-12.3%
-5.8%
-2.0%
-1.4%
-0.4%
-2.1%
2.6%
-0.8%
1.7%
-4.4%
0.1%
2.4%
0.5%

-6.6%
-0.2%
0.6%
-4.8%
-6.1%
-2.5%
0.4%
2.5%
-2.7%
0.6%
-1.9%

-9.7%
0.9%
0.6%

-4.9%  

Source: Eurostat (online data codes:  ilc_di03  and 
prc_hicp_aind ) 

8/2013 — Statistics in focus  

 
 
 
                                                      
 
 
 
 
Sweden, while it increased by more than 1 % in 
Malta (+2.6 %), Poland (+2.5 %), Slovakia 
(+2.4 %) and Austria (+1.7 %). 

Increases or decreases in median income can 
essentially be explained by changes in family 
situation, employment situation, the welfare 
system and taxes.  

Median income fell most for the unemployed 

The activity status presented in the analysis is 
self-declared as measured by EU-SILC. Data are 
presented for persons who declared their main 
activity status as being: employees, employed 
persons other than employees (e.g. self-
employed), retired and unemployed.  

The median equivalised disposable income for a 
specific category of persons has to be regarded in 
the household context as it is influenced also by 
the income of other persons in the household. 

In the vast majority of Member States median 
equivalised disposable income fell in real terms 
most for the unemployed in 2010 compared with 
2009 (Table 2).  

Only in Denmark, Germany, France, Cyprus, the 
Netherlands, Finland and the United Kingdom  
was the income change of the unemployed better 
than for employees or the self-employed. 

Median income for the unemployed fell by 
15.2 % in Greece, 12.2 % in Bulgaria, 12.0 % in 
Estonia, 8.9 % in Italy, 8.8 % in Spain and 8.7 % 
in Latvia. It grew by 5.8 % in Denmark, 4.3 % in 
Poland, 4.2 % in Finland and 4.1 % in Germany. 

The fall in median income for the unemployed  
can partly be explained by the rise in long-term 
unemployment and by the fact that in most 
countries the unemployed have access to  
unemployment benefits only for a limited time. 
Changes in the benefit system in some countries 
could also be part of the explanation. 

In some countries other categories faced the 
sharpest income fall.  

In Luxembourg and the Netherlands median 
income fell most for employees, by 4.3 % and 
1.5 % respectively. In Poland it increased for 
employees (+0.9 %) but less than for other 
categories. 

Income fell most for employed persons other 
than employees in France (-11.1 %), Romania 

(-10.6 %), Portugal (-9.0 %), Cyprus (-5.2 %), 
the United Kingdom (- 3.6 %) and Slovenia 
(-2.7 %).  

The income change for retired people was 
smaller than for other categories only in 
Denmark (+1.1 %), Germany (+0.2 %), 
Lithuania (-7.1 %), Finland (+0.3 %) and 
Sweden (-2.6 %).   

Table 2: Change in median disposable 
income by economic status 2009-2010 (%) 

Employees

-0.2
-4.4
0.4
1.8
1.1
-4.4
:
-11.0
-2.8
-1.7
-0.9
-1.8
-4.2
0.2
-4.3
3.7
1.8
-1.5
2.7
0.9
-3.1
-4.5
1.1
1.1
1.7
1.5
-2.2
-9.4
0.3
1.1
-5.2

Employed 
persons 
other than 
employees
0.2
-5.1
4.3
1.7
0.9
-2.7
:
-8.8
-3.3
-11.1
-3.3
-5.2
6.4
10.8
7.8
2.3
-2.1
1.0
-1.8
4.7
-9.0
-10.6
-2.7
5.0
2.0
3.3
-3.6
-7.3
-8.7
4.6
-16.0

Retired 
persons

Unemployed 
persons

-1.2
-6.0
-0.2
1.1
0.2
-3.3
:
-13.2
-5.3
0.2
-2.8
-0.3
3.1
-7.1
1.1
-0.4
3.8
0.0
1.5
2.4
-0.1
-0.2
0.0
4.2
0.3
-2.6
-2.2
-12.7
1.1
-1.4
-1.5

-6.9
-12.2
-4.2
5.8
4.1
-12.0
:
-15.2
-8.8
-0.1
-8.9
2.6
-8.7
-1.1
-2.3
-2.2
-4.2
1.6
-3.1
4.3
-3.4
-7.6
0.7
0.9
4.2
0.2
-1.1
-6.7
-4.1
6.4
-2.3  

BE
BG
CZ
DK
DE
EE
IE
EL
ES
FR
IT
CY
LV
LT
LU
HU
MT
NL
AT
PL
PT
RO
SI
SK
FI
SE
UK
IS
NO
CH
HR

Note: main economic status is self-declared; incomes 
are in national currencies, equivalised and adjusted 
for inflation. 

Source: Eurostat (online data codes: ilc_di05  and 
prc_hicp_aind ) 

  Statistics in focus — 8/2013 

3 

 
 
 
 
Income fell most in the bottom income quintile in most Member States 

Median equivalised disposable income does not 
give a complete picture of changes across the 
income distribution.  

Table 3 shows the change in real terms between 
2009 and 2010 of equivalised disposable income 
for the first and fifth quintiles of the income 
distribution. As a basis for calculations, the median 
of the interval covered by each quintile is used. 
This is a measure of the average situation in each 
quintile. 

Income decreased from 2009 to 2010 in the bottom 
quintile in 18 Member States after adjusting for 
inflation. The sharpest fall occurred in Greece, 
where the median income of this quintile decreased 
by 17.3 %, in Estonia (-11.4 %) and in Bulgaria 
(-10.2 %). It increased the most in Lithuania 
(+3.5 %), Luxembourg and Poland (both +2.9 %). 

For the top quintile income also decreased in 18 
Member States but with different patterns and 
intensity. The sharpest fall occurred in Lithuania, 
where the median of this quintile decreased by  
12.4 %, in Greece (-11.1 %) and in Latvia (-7.4 %). 
It increased the most in Hungary (+9.1 %), 
Denmark (+4.3 %) and Finland (+2.5 %). 

All in all, income inequality is rising in 15 Member 
States, because income in the fifth quintile 
decreased less or increased more than in the first 
quintile. 

In order to explore in greater depth the effects of 
income changes on income inequalities we need to 
gain a better understanding of the income dynamics 
in different parts of the income distribution. For 
this purpose we divided countries into groups 
sharing similar characteristics in terms of changes 
in income in the five quintiles between 2009 and 
2010.  

In the first group presented in Figure 2 and 
composed of Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, 
Estonia, Greece, Spain, Hungary, Portugal, 
Romania, Finland and Sweden, income decreased 

most in the lower quintiles and decreased less (or 
increased) in the upper quintiles, thereby 
contributing to an increase in income inequality. 
This pattern is particularly clear (i.e. systematic 
over all quintiles) in Bulgaria, Greece and 
Hungary.  

Table 3: Change in equivalised disposable 
income for first and fifth quintiles 2009-2010 

Currency

Median of 
first quintile 
2010

Change in 
real terms 
2010/2009

Median of 
fifth quintile 
2010

Change in 
real terms 
2010/2009

BE
DE
IE
EL
ES
FR
IT
CY
LU
MT
NL
AT
PT
SI
SK
FI

BG
CZ
DK
EE
LV
LT
HU
PL
RO
SE
UK

IS
NO
CH

EUR
EUR
EUR
EUR
EUR
EUR
EUR
EUR
EUR
EUR
EUR
EUR
EUR
EUR
EUR
EUR

BGN
CZK
DKK
EEK
LVL
LTL
HUF
PLN
RON
SEK
GBP

ISK
NOK
CHF

10 592
9 612
:
4 762
4 977
10 935
7 172
9 195
18 279
5 709
11 861
11 898
4 038
6 453
3 483
12 185

2 269
113 919
108 712
41 633
1 250
5 919
672 596
9 869
3 463
116 645
7 581

1 895 225
171 809
24 549

-0.9%
-1.6%

-17.3%
-7.7%
-1.7%
-6.3%
1.5%
2.9%
0.7%
-2.7%
1.7%
-4.8%
-3.4%
0.8%
-0.2%

-10.2%
-2.3%
2.3%
-11.4%
-4.7%
3.5%
-4.2%
2.9%
-7.4%
-1.4%
-0.2%

-8.2%
3.1%
0.9%

33 772
34 790
:
21 710
25 800
38 539
30 227
33 087
59 829
19 385
35 302
36 822
18 458
19 676
10 928
37 194

11 760
331 053
325 921
180 578
6 565
28 778
2 264 233
38 829
18 163
346 987
30 101

4 916 121
459 950
85 875

-1.0%
-1.1%

-11.1%
-4.5%
-0.4%
-3.0%
1.9%
-0.2%
-1.3%
-1.4%
-1.4%
-4.1%
-0.9%
1.3%
2.5%

-2.7%
1.7%
4.3%
-5.8%
-7.4%
-12.4%
9.1%
1.8%
-3.3%
1.5%
-2.1%

-16.4%
1.1%
0.9%

HR

HRK

17 357

-4.5%

78 424

-9.5%  

Source: Eurostat (online data codes: ilc_di11  and 
prc_hicp_aind ) 

4 

8/2013 — Statistics in focus  

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
In the second group in Figure 3, composed of 
Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, the United Kingdom, 
Iceland, Norway  and Croatia, income decreased 
most (or increased least) for the highest quintiles 
and decreased least (or increased most) in the lower 
quintiles, thereby contributing to a decrease in 
income inequality. This is particularly visible in 
Lithuania and Iceland. 

However, for the other countries there was no clear 
trend along the income distribution and mixed 
effects on income inequality were registered.  

Figure 2: Change in income in the five quintiles between 2009 and 2010 in real terms, countries of 
Group 1 (increasing inequality) 

BG

CZ

EE

EL

ES

HU

PT

RO

FI

SE

10.0%

5.0%

0.0%

-5.0%

-10.0%

-15.0%

-20.0%

Source: Eurostat (online data codes:  ilc_di11  and prc_hicp_aind ) 

First quintile

Second quintile

Third quintile

Fourth quintile

Fifth quintile

Figure 3: Change in income in the five quintiles between 2009 and 2010 in real terms, countries of 
Group 2 (decreasing inequality) 

LV

LT

PL

UK

IS

NO

HR

5.0%

0.0%

-5.0%

-10.0%

-15.0%

-20.0%

Source: Eurostat (online data codes:  ilc_di11  and prc_hicp_aind ) 

First quintile

Second quintile

Third quintile

Fourth quintile

Fifth quintile

  Statistics in focus — 8/2013 

5 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Around 10% of EU citizens cannot afford a meal with meat, chicken, fish or a 
vegetarian equivalent every second day 

Material deprivation complements the income 
perspective by providing an estimate of the 
proportion of people whose living conditions are 
severely affected by a lack of resources. 

Among material deprivation items, the inability 
to afford a meal with meat, chicken, fish or a 
vegetarian equivalent every second day showed 
the greatest change in 2011 at EU-27 level 
compared with 2010. The change in Member 
States of this deprivation item is also in some 
cases correlated with the decrease in income in 
the lowest quintiles.  

In 2011 9.7 % of the EU population reported that 
they could not afford this item. This represents 
an increase of 1 pp compared with 2010.  

There is considerable variation among Member 
States. The percentage of people reporting this 
deprivation item ranged from 3 % or less in 
Spain, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden and 
Luxembourg to 29 % in Hungary, 30.8 % in 
Latvia and a maximum of 50.8 % in Bulgaria in 
2011.   

Compared with 2010, the percentage of people 
reporting that they could not afford such a meal 
every second day increased by 7.6 pp in 
Bulgaria, 5.7 pp in Italy and 4.0 pp in Latvia.  

At the same time it fell by more than 1 pp only in 
Poland (-1.4 pp) and in Austria (-1.5 pp). 

Figure 4: Inability to afford a meal with meat, chicken, fish or a vegetarian equivalent in 
2010 and 2011 (% of total population) 

 50.0

 40.0

 30.0

 20.0

 10.0

 0.0

U
L

E
S

K
D

L
N

S
E

E

I

I

T F
P

E
B

K
U

Y
C

R
F

T
A

E
D

L
E

7
2
-
U
E

T
M

I

E S
E

Z
C

T

I

L
P

O
R

T
L

K
S

U
H

V
L

G
B

H
C

O
N

S

I

R
H

Note: EU-27 Eurostat estimation; data not available for IE in 2011 

Source: Eurostat (online data code: ilc_mdes03) 

2010

2011

6 

8/2013 — Statistics in focus  

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Methodological notes  
Background 
The reference source for statistics and indicators on income and 
living conditions is EU-SILC (EU Statistics on income and 
living conditions). This survey  is organised under the 
Framework Regulation 1177/2003. 
EU-SILC is the main source of information used in the 
European Union to develop indicators monitoring poverty and 
social exclusion. 

Definitions 
Income 
Gross income includes income from market sources and cash 
benefits. The former includes employee cash or near-cash 
income, non-cash employee income, cash benefits from self-
employment, income from rental of property or land, regular 
inter-household cash transfers received, interest, dividends, 
profit from capital investments in unincorporated businesses, 
income received by people aged under 16 and pensions from 
individual private plans. Cash benefits are the sum of all 
unemployment, old-age, survivor’s, sickness and disability 
benefits; education-related, family/children-related and housing 
allowances; and benefits for social exclusion or those not 
elsewhere classified. Direct taxes and regular inter-household 
cash transfers paid are deducted from gross income to give 
disposable income. 
The current definition of total household disposable income 
used for calculating the indicators presented excludes imputed 
rent – i.e. money that the household saves on full (market) rent 
by living in its own accommodation or in accommodation it 
rents at a price that is lower than the market rent. The definition 
of income currently used also excludes non-monetary income 
components, in particular the value of goods produced for own 
consumption, social transfers in kind and non-cash employee 
income except company cars. 

Income reference period 
The income reference period is a fixed 12-month period (such 
as the previous calendar or tax year) for all countries except the 
UK, for which the income reference period is the current year, 
and IE, for which the survey is continuous and income is 
collected for the last twelve months. The data used in this 
publication are derived from EU-SILC operation 2011. With 
the exception of the UK and IE, the income reference period is 
therefore 1/1/2010 to 31/12/2010. 

Equivalised disposable income 
In order to reflect differences in household size and 
composition, the income figures are given per equivalent adult. 
This means that the total household income is divided by its 
equivalent size using the ‘modified OECD equivalence scale’ 
and the resulting figure is allocated to each member of the 
household, whether adult or children. The scale gives a weight 
of 1.0 to the first adult, 0.5 to any other household member 
aged 14 and over and 0.3 to each child below the age of 14. The 
equivalent size of a household that consists of 2 adults and 2 
children below the age of 14 is therefore: 1.0 + 0.5 + (2*0.3) = 
2.1. Equivalised disposable income is therefore an indicator of 
the economic resources available to a standardised household. 
For a lone-person household it is equal to household income. 
For a household comprising more than one person, it is an 
indicator of the household income that would be needed by a 
lone-person household to enjoy the same level of economic 
wellbeing. 

Inflation adjustment 
In order to take account of inflation in year-to-year income 
changes we have used the HICP (Harmonised Index of 
Consumer Prices). The HICP is the consumer price index as it 
is calculated in the European Union, according to a harmonized 
approach and a single set of definitions. 

Self-declared main economic status 
Main economic status is self-defined and acquired by means of 
an EU-SILC target variable. This variable captures the person’s 
own perception of his or her main activity at the time of the 
survey. It differs from the ILO concept to the extent that 
people’s own perception of their main status differs from the 
strict definitions used in the ILO classifications of employment 
and unemployment. For instance, many people who would 
regard themselves as full-time students or homemakers may be 
classified by the ILO criteria as employed if they have a part-
time job. Similarly, some people who consider themselves 
‘unemployed’ may not meet the strict ILO criteria of taking 
active steps to find work and being immediately available. 

Income quintiles 
Quintiles refer to the position in the frequency distribution. The 
quintile cut-off value is obtained by sorting all incomes, from 
lowest to highest, and then choosing the value of income under 
which 20 % (lower limit), 40 % (second limit), 60 % (third),  
80 % (fourth) and 100 % (upper limit) of the sample are 
located. A quintile as such is associated with the segment 
boundaries between two quintiles. The first segment includes 
income below the lower quintile cut-off (20 %), the second 
segment includes income located between the lower cut-off and 
the second quintile cut-off, and so on. In total, there are five 
segments. From these segments, the median income by quintile 
is calculated using cut-off points of 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th and 9th 
deciles that correspond respectively to the median of 1st, 2nd, 
3rd, 4th and 5th quintiles. 

Inability to afford a meal 
The severe material deprivation rate is defined as the 
percentage of the population with an enforced lack of at least 
four out of nine material deprivation items in the ‘economic 
strain and durables’ dimension.  
Not being able to afford a meal with meat, chicken, fish (or a 
vegetarian equivalent) every second day is one of the 
deprivation items. 

EU -average 
EU aggregates are computed as the population-weighted 
averages of national indicators. 

Abbreviations 
EU-27 Member States: Belgium (BE), Bulgaria (BG), the 
Czech Republic (CZ), Denmark (DK), Germany (DE), Estonia 
(EE), Ireland (IE), Greece (EL), Spain (ES), France (FR), Italy 
(IT), Cyprus (CY), Latvia (LV), Lithuania (LT), Luxembourg 
(LU), Hungary (HU), Malta (MT), the Netherlands (NL), 
Austria (AT), Poland (PL), Portugal (PT), Romania (RO), 
Slovenia (SI), Slovakia (SK), Finland (FI), Sweden (SE) and 
the United Kingdom (UK). Iceland (IS), Norway (NO), 
Switzerland (CH) and Croatia (HR) are also referred to in this 
publication. 

  Statistics in focus — 8/2013 

7 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Further information 

Eurostat website: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat 

Data on ‘Income and living conditions’ 
http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/income_social_inclusion_living_conditions/data/database 
Data on ‘Harmonised Indices of Consumer prices (HICP)’ 
http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/hicp/data/database 

Further information about ‘Income and living conditions’ 
http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/income_social_inclusion_living_conditions/introduction 
Further information about ‘Harmonised Indices of Consumer prices (HICP)’ 
http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/portal/page/portal/hicp/introduction 

Journalists can contact the media support service: 

Bech Building, Office A4/125, L-2920 Luxembourg 
Tel.: (352) 4301 33408  
Fax: (352) 4301 35349 
E-mail: eurostat-mediasupport@ec.europa.eu 

European Statistical Data Support: 

With the members of the ‘European statistical system’, Eurostat has set up a network of 
support centres in nearly every Member State and in some EFTA countries. 

Their role is to provide help and guidance to Internet users of European statistics. 

Contact details for this support network can be found on the Eurostat website at: 
http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/. 

All Eurostat publications can be ordered via the ‘EU Bookshop’: 
http://bookshop.europa.eu/. 

Manuscript completed on: 21.03.2013 
Data extracted on: 18.12.2012 
ISSN 1977-0316 
Catalogue number: KS-SF-13-008-EN-N 
© European Union, 2013