What is the Scale of Multiple Deprivation in the European Union?

The social exclusion perspective has focused attention on the processes leading to exposure to multiple disadvantage and social isolation. Despite the influence the perspective has had on both academic and policy discussions, conceptual analysis has remained imprecise and empirical evidence modest. Advocates of the social exclusion perspective have frequently criticised poverty analysis for being static and unidimensional. However, these are by no means necessary features of poverty analysis and in this paper we have made use of the ECHP in order to examine the extent to which persistent income poverty results in multiple deprivation and social isolation. Our analysis shows that, even if we apply a somewhat more restricted definition of multiple deprivation than that which features in the social exclusion literature, only a rather modest proportion of the persistently poor can be characterised as being exposed to such deprivation. Furthermore, while persistent poverty and multiple deprivation combine to produce extremely high levels of economic strain, there is no evidence that they interact in a significant fashion. Finally, there is very little evidence that the persistently income poor are socially isolated. In our conclusion we argue that understanding deprivation is not facilitated by focusing on a cleavage between a multiply deprived and excluded minority and a comfortable majority and develop the policy implications of this argument.