How the sovereign debt crisis shaped wealth inequality in the euro area
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ECB blog post based on the Household Finance and Consumption Survey: the sovereign debt crisis increased wealth inequality in the euro area, which has since returned to levels close to those before, except in the hardest-hit countries.
Key points
- Net wealth Gini: 68.2 in 2010, 69.7 in 2014 and 68.5 in 2023
- The richest 10% held 51.8% of wealth in 2023, one point more than in 2010; the poorest half, 6.2%
- The fall in house prices was the main driver of the increase in inequality
- In the hardest-hit countries (Cyprus, Spain, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal) the Gini kept rising until 2021 and in 2023 was still above its 2010 level
Who is affected
Distributional analysis; Spain among the hardest-hit countries
Plain-language version
An ECB blog (the ECB is the euro area's central bank) shows that the euro area government debt crisis made wealth inequality worse, mainly because house prices fell, and a home is most families' biggest asset. In 2023 the richest 10% held 51.8% of wealth and the poorer half just 6.2%. In Spain, one of the hardest-hit countries, inequality is still above its 2010 level.
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Summary produced with artificial intelligence from the official publication. It may contain errors: always check the original document.
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