According to a Eurobarometer survey published in February 2023 and conducted in May and June 2022, the majority of EU residents agree that income inequality in their country is high. As many as 81 % say so (of which around 31 % “strongly agree”).

In individual countries, the percentage ranges from 94 % in Portugal to 58 % in Denmark and Finland (76 % in Poland). Compared to the previous survey, conducted at the end of 2017, the percentage of people agreeing with this thesis has decreased on average in the EU by 4 percentage points (in Poland by 6 percentage points).

A similar proportion of EU residents (78 %) agree that national governments should take action to reduce income inequality. In this case, the spread at country level was wider: from 93 % in Portugal to 45 % in Denmark (73 % in Poland) and has narrowed in most countries since the previous survey in 2017.

Around 66 % of people in the EU also agree that it is an important task for the government to tax the wealthy in order to be able to support the poor. At country level, the percentage ranges from 88 % in Greece to 54 % in Italy (62 % in Poland).

A clear majority of EU residents agree that governments should spend more or at least maintain current levels of social spending, with the largest increases occurring in categories related to health care and education (just over two-thirds thought so).

When asked about the financing of additional social expenditures, only 16 % of people chose the answer that they should not increase (in Poland 22 %), while 78 % thought that they should. 51 % (in Poland 41 %) agreed that additional expenditure should be distributed among households.

Adrian Andrzejewski