Estimation of income inequality and the poverty rate in Poland, by region and family type

Abstract

High income inequality can be a source of serious socio-economic problems, such as increasing poverty, social stratification and polarization. Periods of pronounced economic growth or recession may impact different groups of earners differently. Growth may not be shared equally and economic crises may further widen gaps between the wealthiest and poorest sectors. Poverty affects all ages but children are disproportionately affected by it. The reliable inequality and poverty analysis of both total population of households and subpopulations by various family types can be a helpful piece of information for economists and social policy makers. The main objective of the paper was to present some income inequality and poverty estimates with the application to the Polish data coming from the Household Budget Survey. Besides direct estimation methods, the model based approach was taken into regard. Standard errors of estimates were also considered in the paper.