According to the World Inequality Database, the income share of this super-rich group ranges from 1.6% in the Netherlands to 10.2% in Georgia in a sample of 35 countries that includes EU member states, candidate countries, and the UK.
Figures are for 2024 or the latest available year after 2020, except for Italy, for which the most recent data are for 2015. Income is taken into account before taxes and social benefits.
Among EU countries, Estonia (8.3%), Bulgaria (7.5%) and Poland (7%) have the highest share of income remaining for wealthy citizens.
Two EU candidate countries, Serbia (6.9%) and Turkey (6.1%), also exceed the 6% threshold.
Denmark (5.8%) and Romania (5.1%) are also above 5%.
Where do these differences come from?
According to Dr. Pawel Bukowski of University College London, public policy plays a decisive role.
“Countries differ in the extent of income redistribution, that is, the extent to which the state tries to influence income through taxes and social policies,” Euronews Business quoted him as saying.
– In this respect, Central and Eastern Europe are characterized by a low level of redistribution. The tax system in Poland is regressive, i.e. the rich pay relatively less than the poor”.
He also noted that many social measures are designed in such a way that they do not necessarily equalize incomes.
Excluding Italy, the four largest EU economies show very close figures for the share held by the super-rich group: Spain (5%), Germany (4.9%), the UK (4.9%) and France (4.9%).
Ireland (4.8%) is right behind them, slightly ahead of the European average of 4.5%. Moldova is close behind with 4.3% of the share of income that remains with rich citizens.
The lowest share is recorded in the Netherlands – 1.6%, followed by Cyprus (2.2%), Montenegro (2.3%), Slovenia (2.3%), Belgium (2.3%), Albania (2.4%) and Latvia (2.4%) – all with less than 2.5%.
The latest figure for Italy is 2.0 %, but it is from 2015. A more recent study estimates this share at 3.3% for 2021.
The income share of rich citizens ranges from 3.5 to 4.5 % in Greece (4.5 %), Switzerland (4.3 %), Czech Republic (4.2 %), Sweden (3.7 %), Finland (3.5 %) and Norway (3.5 %).
Wage compression and stronger collective bargaining
Dr. Salvatore Morelli of Rome’s Tre University noted that higher income shares may in part reflect a greater concentration of wages, business income, and property (which in turn generates capital income), especially after the economic transformations of the 1990s.
However, it may also be due to differences in pension systems, tax reporting rules, the level of the underground economy, and the extent to which capital income is recorded in administrative statistics.
“Research shows that countries with stronger collective bargaining institutions, low unemployment and well-developed social security systems tend to narrow the pre-tax income gap between the highest earners and the rest of the population,” Morelli told Euronews Business.
“This may partly explain why in Scandinavian and a number of Western European countries the income share of the top layer is often lower than in many post-socialist economies.”
