One in four Europeans describe their financial position as “precarious,” more than half see a serious risk it could become so over the coming months, and 80 percent have been forced into hard spending choices, a survey showed.
As the cost-of-living crisis tightens its grip — driven by high energy prices, rampant inflation and the war in Ukraine — the six-nation survey for the French anti-poverty non-governmental organization Secours Populaire painted an alarming picture of “a continent on the brink.”
More than half (54 percent) of more than 6,000 people across France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Poland and the UK told the pollster Ipsos that their purchasing power had fallen over the past three years — mostly due to higher food, fuel, heating and rent bills.
Photo: EPA-EFE
The hardest-hit country was Greece, where 68 percent of respondents said their spending power had fallen “a lot” or “somewhat” since 2019, followed by 63 percent in France, 57 percent in Italy, 54 percent in Germany, 48 percent in Britain and 38 percent in Poland.
About 80 percent of respondents said they had been forced to make significant compromises, including cutting down on travel (62 percent) or heating (47 percent), borrowing from friends or family (42 percent), finding a second job (40 percent) and skipping a meal (29 percent).
Across the six countries, 64 percent said they were now “often” or “sometimes” unable to decide what to cut next, as they had already cut what they could; 28 percent said they were overdrawn by the middle of the month; and 27 percent often or sometimes feared losing their home.
On average, about 27 percent of respondents across the six countries said their financial and material situation was “precarious,” defined as “one unexpected expenditure could change everything,” while 55 percent said they had to pay attention to cost changes.
Moreover, the future looked worse for many: A majority of Europeans (55 percent) said they felt they faced a very or somewhat significant risk of falling into precariousness over the coming months, with one in five (17 percent) assessing the possibility as very high.
Italians and Greeks were the most worried, with 70 percent and 68 percent respectively very or somewhat concerned. About 47 percent of respondents in Britain said they felt the risk of precariousness was significant, and 42 percent of those in France.
Parents in particular were feeling the strain, the survey showed. A large majority (72 percent) across the six countries said they had cut back on their leisure activities (76 percent), hair and beauty treatments (72 percent) and clothing budget (72 percent) to preserve their children’s quality of life.
Almost half of parents (48 percent) across the six countries also said they regularly cut back on their own food to feed their children, while 66 percent said they had been forced to rein in their children’s activities, including outings and holidays.
On average, 49 percent of parents said they were worried about not being able to meet their children’s needs in future, while 33 percent said they were unable to ensure their children’s diet was as varied as they would like.
The study showed striking differences between the countries in terms of which groups were deemed most at risk of falling into poverty: retirees in Germany (61 percent), younger people in Italy (57 percent), single-parent families in the UK (55 percent).
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