'One in four' Europeans suffer financial hardship as food, energy prices soar

According to survey by a French NGO, one in four people across six European countries say they are in a precarious financial situation that has forced them to give up certain needs – such as heating their home or eating meals.

Boxes of donated items at a food bank in London. A quarter of people surveyed across six European countries say they are in financial difficulty. AFP - DANIEL LEAL

The report, published this week by the anti-poverty NGO Secours Populaire, found that 62 percent of Europeans surveyed have already restricted their travel and 47 percent have given up heating their home despite the cold.

Twenty-nine percent of participants in the survey also said they skipped a meal when they were hungry.

The study – carried out for the organisation by the Ipsos market research institute – polled some 6,000 individuals aged 18 and over from six countries: Germany, France, Greece, Italy, Poland and the United Kingdom.

In total, 27 percent of respondents said they were in a precarious situation.

Fifty-one percent of Greeks reported experiencing hardship, compared to 24 percent of French and 18 percent of Germans.

Plus d'un #Européen sur deux est inquiet de se retrouver dans une situation de #pauvreté dans les prochains mois, surtout en #Grèce, en #Italie et en #Pologne. Sondage @IpsosFrance - @SecoursPop
sur la pauvreté en #Europe : https://t.co/hIkQpIh3pO #EuropePlusSolidaire pic.twitter.com/2vj2kuoyxV

— Secours populaire (@SecoursPop) November 4, 2022

Deterioration of living conditions

"With soaring prices, the energy crisis and the consequences of the war in Ukraine, for many Europeans living conditions have deteriorated in 2022," Secours Populaire says.

"This situation is all the more difficult as it follows two years in which living standards were marked by the shock of the [Covid-19] health crisis."

Families have been particularly affected, with almost one parent in two having already given up on their child going on holiday or enrolling in an extracurricular activity.

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One-third of respondents said they are not always able to give their child a varied diet.

In order to provide good living conditions for their children, three-quarters of parents said they deprive themselves of leisure activities.

Stoked by the soaring cost of power, consumer prices in the Eurozone rose by 10 percent in September – the steepest increase since records began. 

In France, inflation reached its highest level since 1985 last month. Food prices in particular grew almost 12 percent year on year, while energy prices added almost 20 percent.