"The pandemic and the current crisis (Ukraine war, energy crisis, inflation) have had different effects on income distribution in the EU. The southern periphery, which is more dependent on tourism, suffered more during the pandemic, whereas the current crisis has hit the central and eastern European countries more, where inflation is significantly higher. As a result, however, thanks to higher growth in the poorer EU countries, the distribution between countries has improved somewhat. Within countries, government protection measures have mitigated the effects of the two crises. In the pandemic, this was halfway successful. The findings for the current crisis are still pending, but inflation is likely to have lowered the real incomes of the poorer parts of the population. For EU-wide inequality, the income convergence observed since 2015 came to a halt in the pandemic, while inflation in 2022 is likely to have accelerated nominal convergence."

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