THE INCREASED RISK OF POVERTY AND SOCIAL EXCLUSION IN EUROPE: THE CASES OF PORTUGAL AND GERMANY

The issue of poverty and the risk of social exclusion, due to growing social inequalities, continues on the rise, further aggravated by fresh crises, from energy, to high levels of inflation, and conflicts. This phenomenon deserves to be examined in Europe, which has an agenda designed to fight ineq...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inEconomic and Social Development: Book of Proceedings pp. 442 - 450
Main Authors Leite, Ana Miguel Ramos, Leite, Eduardo Manuel de Almeida, Ribeiro, Humberto Nuno Rito, Primorac, Dinko, Alves, Sandra Raquel
Format Conference Proceeding
LanguageEnglish
Published Varazdin Varazdin Development and Entrepreneurship Agency (VADEA) 19.10.2022
Subjects
20th century
Asymmetry
Coronaviruses
COVID-19
Immigration
Income inequality
Nations
Poverty
Reduction
Risk
Social exclusion
Sustainable development
World War I
World War II
Europe
Portugal
Germany
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Summary:The issue of poverty and the risk of social exclusion, due to growing social inequalities, continues on the rise, further aggravated by fresh crises, from energy, to high levels of inflation, and conflicts. This phenomenon deserves to be examined in Europe, which has an agenda designed to fight inequality, with a view in prospect of avoiding extreme ruptures, such as the first and second World Wars. In this context, Europe mirrors very asymmetrical realities, often dividing itself between rich nations and poor nations. Therefore, the cases of Portugal and Germany were analysed, in order to reflect and capture this asymmetric reality. The results obtained in this research are somewhat surprising, as they show that, despite the different economic magnitudes of both countries, Portugal, contrary to what one might suppose, even presents a slightly better panorama than Germany, as the latter is strongly influenced by the integration of the former German Democratic Republic territories and the integration of waves of immigration coming from poorer countries, not only from Europe, but also from battered regions overseas, as is the case of the Middle East. It can also be suggested that wars resulted in a reduction of economic inequalities. Even if unintentionally, this fact may also lead to justify the occurrence of new wars in Europe, given that the number of poor people and people at risk of social exclusion are increasingly worrying and the European strategy of eradication of poverty, as in the pre-war periods, is not having a significant effect on the economy and on the overall society. In particular, while is not resulting in a broad reduction of inequality, and, therefore, while showing inability to effectively reduce social exclusion, risk poverty, and poverty itself.
ISSN:1849-6903
1849-6903