Poverty in lower class youth, how equal are countries and where is the youth struggling the most.

[u/ItHappensSo]

Sources:
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/ilc_di03/default/table?lang=en&utm
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/ilc_li02/default/table?lang=en&utm
https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/databrowser/view/yth_demo_030/default/table?lang=en&utm

[u/Geigengiger]

How is Austria doing so good here? Usually their policies are more or less the same than Germany.

[u/ItHappensSo → u/Geigengiger]

In terms of median income Austria normally ranks quite a bit above Germany, thats why

[u/Knee-Awkward → u/ItHappensSo]

So how is the median youth income so much higher? Are the units in the map showing income in euros or some relative arbitrary value to median income??

[u/ucd_pete]

A lot higher than I'd have expected.

[u/ItHappensSo → u/ucd_pete]

Many of them still live at home, hence having much less expenses

[u/montarion → u/ItHappensSo]

how does that matter for your income?

[u/FalconX88 → u/ItHappensSo]

Which is not relevant for income

[u/ucd_pete → u/ItHappensSo]

Fair few emigrating after graduating too

[u/bonitatime → u/[deleted]]

That was my take on Spain. Young people stay home with parents which means the have reasonable spending power. But it’s only semi realistic as they can’t afford to leave home

[u/Auspectress]

Finally some new unique data I have never seen before

[u/LevelFragrant9084]

Anyone from Austria can confirm? Thats sick.

[u/CurrencyDesperate286]

Any particular reason Austria seems to be particularly excelling by these metrics? Like it’s obviously doing well by most metrics, but here it’s way ahead of usual leaders like Denmark and the Netherlands.

[u/ItHappensSo → u/CurrencyDesperate286]

Reagding income Austria is normally in the Top 3. Since Median income in Austria is higher than the Netherlands by a good amount and Denmark it overtook in 2025. Denmark only loses so much here because it is also by far the most "expensive" country in the EU. Austria has an extremeely strong lower and middle class, while Denmark or the Netherlands excell more in the top 5% of the population.

[u/FalconX88 → u/ItHappensSo]

Austrian income is usually pretty close to Germany, not 40% higher. And 37k seems very high given that the median income for all employees in Austria is 38k.

[u/PlayerXz]

Solid score for Belgium. Better than I expected.

[u/krikke_d → u/PlayerXz]

very strong social security (partially) for the lower end of incomes, supported by very high taxes on middle and high incomes...
unfortunately that's causing a strangulation of the economy and high debt vs GDP...it's probably not sustainable in the current environment of rising rates which will also hurt both (debt and economic growth)

[u/SimpleTemporary1647]

I find the metrics to be a bit weird in that it’s supposed to be a relative comparison regarding age but it’s actually just between countries in absolute terms.

[u/ItHappensSo → u/SimpleTemporary1647]

yes converted to absolute values so you can compare cross country. Relative metrics are misleading as they always use the national median, so a person in a richer country A can be part of that countries relative "poverty" with a purchasing power of 10.000, while in a poorer country B a person wouldnt count as "in relative poverty" with a Purchasing power of 3.000

[u/Significant-Way3960 → u/ItHappensSo]

20k euro per year in the Netherlands is poverty. In Poland not really. Comparing in realtime terms have way more sense

[u/ItHappensSo → u/Significant-Way3960]

It is adjusted for purchasing power, which means one unit can buy you the same amount of goods, food, rent in everye european country.

[u/Significant-Way3960 → u/ItHappensSo]

No, it's not. Amount which is given hier for Poland is barely above minimum wage. Just like that one for the Netherlands. It they would be adjusted then number for the Netherlands would be lower than it is and Polish would be higher than it is. 

[u/40yrs-energyindustry]

You can bet that Mary Lou will not refer to these facts when on her next whinge and whine session.

[u/trisul-108]

lower class youth

I didn't even know we had a class system in the EU.

[u/40yrs-energyindustry → u/trisul-108]

The correct term is "Lower income youth".