ABSTRACT
The upper end of the market income distribution scale is also of special significance for social policy, but from a quite different viewpoint. The social policy-maker focuses on the lower and middle income bands. Distribution indicators that are especially sensitive at the lower end, like Theil's measure or the Atkinson Index, show that this is where inequality has become greater. The distribution situation can be seen more clearly if we arrange people in ascending order by equivalent net income, divide them into groups of ten per cent each, and look at the percentage of the total equivalent net income accounted for by each group. In many social policy studies, people living below this threshold are regarded as relatively income-poor. The problem of child poverty is present in all developed OECD countries; in Germany, however, the problem is greater than in the majority of EU countries.
