High income and affluence : evidence from the European Union statistics on income and living conditions (EU-SILC) : 2017 edition

This paper examines the top tail of the income distributions in the 2012 EU-SILC data. First, it discusses issues related to data quality, including under-estimation of top incomes. Then, the data are used as they are to compute several income-based measures of affluence. Finally, the link between non-income information and high incomes is analysed. The paper shows that EU-SILC is a useful complementary source on high incomes, in particular when the aim is to measure the size of the economically very well-off group. It also shows that identifying the affluent only on the basis of relative incomes is not sufficient. In a number of countries, many households in the upper tail of the income distribution report having difficulties in making ends meet.