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Report: 28% of EU Citizens Can’t Afford Even One-Week Holidays Away From Home

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Natia Taktakishvili
05.08.21 18:30
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A total of 28 per cent of EU citizens can’t afford a one week holiday away from home, according to the recent research conducted by the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC).

In addition, those figures increase to 59.5 for people who have lower income than the at-risk-of-poverty threshold, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.

The report has revealed that Greece has the worst situation, where 88.9 per cent of people live at risk of poverty and cannot afford to spend holidays away from home, followed by Romania (86.8 per cent), Croatia (84.7 per cent), Cyprus (79.2 per cent) and Slovakia (76.1 per cent).

European Trade Union Confederation survey showed that Italy has the highest number of people in this category, or 7 million, followed by Spain (4.7m), Germany (4.3m), France (3.6m) and Poland (3.1m). See table 1 for all countries.

“A holiday should not be a luxury for the few. However, while many workers are away enjoying time off with friends and family, millions are missing out because of low pay. The rise in holiday inequality shows how the benefits of economic growth in Europe over the last decade haven’t been shared fairly,” ETUC Deputy General Secretary Esther Lynch pointed out in this regard.

Over the last decade, holiday inequality marked an increase in 16 Member States between persons with income below 60 per cent of median and those who have an income above that threshold, based on the recent analysis of Eurostat data by the ETUC and ETUI.

For example, in Romania, a total of 86.8 per cent of people living at risk of poverty couldn’t afford a break compared to about 46.7 per cent of those with incomes above 60 per cent of the median.

According to the report, the following countries have the most significant divides in access to holidays between the two groups:

Croatia (43.2 percentage points)

Greece (43 percentage points)

Bulgaria (42.4 percentage points)

Czechia (41.1 percentage points)

France (40.4 percentage points)

Romania (40.1 percentage points).

At the same time, the most significant increases in the divide were recorded in the countries mentioned below.

Romania (+17 percentage points)

Slovakia (+14 percentage points)

Croatia (+13.8 percentage points)

Lithuania (+8.3 percentage points)

Hungary (+7.9 percentage points)

The European Trade Union Confederation emphasized the initiative to present holiday inequalities are part of efforts to strengthen the EU’s draft directive on adequate minimum wages and collective bargaining.

The European Commission previously reported that over a fifth of 450 million citizens in the bloc were at risk of poverty or social exclusion in 2019.