‘New Poverty’ in the European Community

This article will first examine the changing terms of the debate on poverty in the member states of the European Community: exploring, in particular, the sorts of claims made by different political actors that recent trends in poverty are significantly different or ‘new’. It will then summarise the available evidence as to the restructuring of the map of poverty during recent years and the social and economic causes of these changes. This will make it possible to come to some assessment as to how ‘new’ is the ‘new poverty’ and what new challenges for policy makers it poses.