An additional 25 million Europeans face poverty
An “additional 15 to 25 million people across Europe could face the prospect of living in poverty by 2025,” according to the development charity Oxfam. In a report, “A Cautionary Tale—The true cost of austerity and inequality in Europe,” it states bluntly that “Europe is facing a lost decade.” Austerity measures across Europe resulted from the financial crisis of 2008 as the ruling elite sought to make workers pay for the cost of bailing out the banks. The report notes that “the richest in many European countries affected by austerity have seen their share of income rise, the very poorest have seen their incomes fall.”