One in two Portuguese currently employed feels that their salary does not cover all their expenses, according to the first European Barometer on poverty and insecurity, published this Wednesday.
The report of the study carried out by the company Ipsos affirms that the situation of European workers is “very worryingespecially in Portugal and Serbia”.
“Having a job does not necessarily mean being able to survive financially,” study author Etienne Mercier wrote in a statement, stressing that this situation affects more than a third (36%) of European workers.
The study, commissioned by the French non-governmental organization Secours Populaire Français, surveyed ten thousand people, aged 18 or over, in ten countries (Germany, France, Greece, Italy, Poland, the United Kingdom, Moldova, Portugal, Romania and Serbia ). .
Nearly three in ten Europeans, including 49% of Greeks, said they are in a situation precarious situationwhat leads them to give up certain needslike eating enough or heating their houses, the barometer warned.
Due to a “difficult financial situation”, 62% of Europeans have already restricted their travel and 46% have already given up heating their homes in winter, despite the cold.
In addition, 38% of respondents do not eat three meals a day, 39% stopped buying meat to save money and 10% turn to charities to get food.
The situation “improved slightly” compared to last year in the countries most affected by inflation, such as Greece, but remains “very worrying” in all the countries covered by the investigation, the Secours Populaire Français said.
On the other hand, the barometer underlines that 76% of Europeans declared themselves willing to get personally involved to help people living in poverty.
A figure that is “particularly high in countries where social difficulties are most common: Greece, Portugal and Serbia”, with 84%, the report says.
Source: Observadora
