How should relative poverty be defined and measured in a European Union where there are substantial variations in … suggests that Europe-wide comparisons are more important to the perception of poverty than the convention of national relative … poverty lines would have led us to expect. Even relative poverty is more prevalent in the new low-income (eastern) countries …

A considerable part of the poverty that is measured in a single period is transitory rather than persistent. In most … into and out of poverty should be the main focus of anti-poverty policies. Understanding the characteristics of the … persistently poor, and the circumstances and mechanisms associated with entry into and exit from poverty, can help to inform …