| dc.description.abstract | At the Laeken European Council in December 2001, European Union (EU) Heads of State and Government endorsed a first set of 18 common statistical indicators of social exclusion and poverty. Indicators are an essential element in the Open Method of Co-ordination to monitor progress of Member States in the fight against poverty and social exclusion. A selection of the 18 Laeken indicators have also been used as structural indicators by the European Commission in its Synthesis Report to the 2003 Spring European Council meeting. To highlight the multidimensional nature of the phenomenon of social exclusion, the indicators cover four important areas: financial poverty, employment, health and education. The present report provides an overview of the indicators relating to monetary aspects of poverty, as calculated for Acceding and Candidate Countries on the basis of national statistical sources. An equivalent report, published in April 2003 gives the same overview for the Member States and more information on the political background. |
