Thriving, not just surviving | Shaping effective minimum income systems in Europe.

The report is Co-Authored by Massimo Aprea, Michela Braga, Pietro Galeone, Michele Raitano.

“With the support of a social worker from Barcelona City Council, I applied for the Guaranteed Citizenship Income, which took about eight months to approve. I receive 717 euros [per month] and spend 30% of it on social rent and housing expenses, not including food. I usually eat at a soup kitchen, where I pay 50 cents. If it weren’t for social housing, I wouldn’t be able to make ends meet. It’s what I have, and that’s what I have to survive on. The process of submitting documents should be much simpler and a single person should receive around 1,000 euros per month.” Amílcar Mestre, Spain

In 2024, 93.3 million people in the EU — representing 21.0% of the population — remain at risk of poverty or social exclusion, like Amílcar. Caritas Europa continues to combat poverty at all levels through support services, projects and policy advice. At the European level, Caritas Europa is calling for greater progress in the fight against poverty and views the announced EU anti-poverty strategy as a unique opportunity for a breakthrough, including through improvements in the quality of minimum income systems. 

Caritas Europa’s report on the quality of minimum income systems assesses the impact of such systems on poverty reduction and prevention. It identifies shortcomings of the systems across Europe in terms of adequacy and accessibility and formulates national and EU level recommendations to address these. Caritas Europa wants its recommendations to be reflected in the EU anti-poverty strategy.