ARTICLE
ABSTRACT
The aim of the paper is to compare income inequalities and the level of poverty in Polish households classified into various types according to the number of children per household, and to analyse the changes in income inequalities in 2016 compared to those of 2014 and 2015. The year 2016 was special because of the launch of ”Family 500+” child benefit programme, which contributed to the growth of income in certain types of families. The research has been based on the microdata collected in the framework of the household budget survey by Statistics Poland. It focused on examining the inequality in income distribution, at the same time analysing the poverty phenomenon in various types of households in the period 2014–2016. For this purpose, Gini and Zenga inequality indices and the extremal groups dispersion ratio were estimated. The calculated at-risk-of-poverty rate along with the poverty gap and poverty severity indices made it possible to assess the intensity, depth and severity of poverty in different groups of households. The research demonstrated that in 2016, income inequalities decreased and the level of poverty fell compared to the previous years, especially in the groups of large families. This was the result of the increase in average income in these groups as well as the reduction of the income gap within and among different family types.
KEYWORDS
income, inequality, poverty, Gini index, Zenga index, ”Family 500+” child benefit programme
JEL
D31, I32, I38
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