Poverty on the rise and inequality still a pressing issue.

[Something completely different]

Just read through some new studies and statistics on various social conditions throughout Europe.

3 things suprised me more than other statistics.

1: Women on average still earn 25% less than men. An entire quater! That number left me with a dropped jaw, since through recent developments in the jobmarket, which included a rise of women to top working possitions and the number of highly educated women becoming larger than that of highly educated men I had hoped that the payment issue would have significantly bettered. I guess mysogeny in the workplace is unfortunatly still an issue on this continent.
But of course one will have to differenciate between a more gender equal Scandinacia and the ass backwards Spanish countryside. But still, I was suprised about this umber.

2: 43 million Europeans cannot afford food on a regular and healthy basis. That number jumped up drasticaly in the past years. Especialy in Southern Europe. In most northern European countries social food programs provide food for those too poor to afford it. It seems as if the financial crisis is eroding the southern european social security networks to a dangerous extent by disrupting even basic programs.

3: People in Southern Europe are moving back into the countryside. Not as suprising as one may think when observing the current crisis, but still, it runs completly against a global trend that sees the city populations grow everywhere.

[Darth]

Link to them studies? Science penguin can't do much without citations

[popeyespappy]

There is still countryside in southern Europe?

[kılıç_mehmet]

Just read through some new studies and statistics on various social conditions throughout Europe.

3 things suprised me more than other statistics.

1: Women on average still earn 25% less than men. An entire quater! That number left me with a dropped jaw, since through recent developments in the jobmarket, which included a rise of women to top working possitions and the number of highly educated women becoming larger than that of highly educated men I had hoped that the payment issue would have significantly bettered. I guess mysogeny in the workplace is unfortunatly still an issue on this continent.
But of course one will have to differenciate between a more gender equal Scandinacia and the ass backwards Spanish countryside. But still, I was suprised about this umber.

2: 43 million Europeans cannot afford food on a regular and healthy basis. That number jumped up drasticaly in the past years. Especialy in Southern Europe. In most northern European countries social food programs provide food for those too poor to afford it. It seems as if the financial crisis is eroding the southern european social security networks to a dangerous extent by disrupting even basic programs.

3: People in Southern Europe are moving back into the countryside. Not as suprising as one may think when observing the current crisis, but still, it runs completly against a global trend that sees the city populations grow everywhere.

I guess the third one can be considered as good. Rapid urbanisation is the destruction of both urban and rural societies. I think that a healthy balance must be maintained, and if it cannot, societies generally crumble.