# Buffer Gap: financial strain above the income cutoff

Canonical: https://www.pluraterra.com/models/buffer-gap/
Page last materially revised: 2026-11-02
Observation periods are specified in the content; the revision date is not the data year.

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Pluraterra diagnostic · Experimental v1

# Buffer Gap

Financial vulnerability that a relative-income cutoff misses.

Period: 2024 · 34 calculated values / 34 economy rows · Unit: Percentage points

Strain₍one adult + children, above cutoff₎ − strain₍all household types, above cutoff₎

## Definition

Subtract the percentage unable to face unexpected expenses among all household types from the percentage for one-adult households with dependent children. Both groups are restricted to equivalised disposable income above 60% of the national median. The 2024 source label is a survey period; income-reference periods can differ from the current strain item. Percentages refer to people in the relevant household groups. Positive values mean the one-adult-with-children group reports more strain.

## How to interpret it

The comparison group includes the subgroup; these are not independent samples. No adjustment for income within the broad band, age, housing, assets or other composition is made. Expense thresholds are country-specific. Survey sampling errors are not ingested, so small gaps are not declared statistically significant.

This is a named diagnostic, not an official statistic, causal model or universal prosperity score. Missing outputs remain unavailable. Source estimates, normative choices and uncertainty are distinct.

## All captured results

Find an economy34 rows[Download complete CSV](https://www.pluraterra.com/data/insights/2026-11-02/buffer-gap.csv)

| Economy | One adult + children · % | All household types · % | Buffer Gap · pp |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Ireland | 69.8 | 27.1 | 42.7 |
| Austria | 45.2 | 16.0 | 29.2 |
| Norway | 46.4 | 20.1 | 26.3 |
| Switzerland | 39.1 | 15.0 | 24.1 |
| Germany | 50.4 | 26.4 | 24.0 |
| Poland | 42.4 | 19.4 | 23.0 |
| Czechia | 37.7 | 14.8 | 22.9 |
| Serbia | 49.3 | 26.6 | 22.7 |
| France | 43.9 | 22.5 | 21.4 |
| Cyprus | 49.4 | 28.1 | 21.3 |
| Finland | 44.1 | 23.2 | 20.9 |
| Belgium | 37.6 | 17.0 | 20.6 |
| Netherlands | 33.3 | 13.0 | 20.3 |
| Denmark | 38.3 | 18.2 | 20.1 |
| Croatia | 47.0 | 27.7 | 19.3 |
| Montenegro | 61.7 | 42.6 | 19.1 |
| Greece | 53.6 | 34.6 | 19.0 |
| Slovenia | 37.0 | 18.5 | 18.5 |
| Malta | 31.5 | 13.9 | 17.6 |
| North Macedonia | 55.5 | 38.1 | 17.4 |
| Turkiye | 35.5 | 18.3 | 17.2 |
| Sweden | 34.0 | 17.2 | 16.8 |
| Estonia | 45.1 | 29.4 | 15.7 |
| Spain | 45.3 | 29.6 | 15.7 |
| Portugal | 38.5 | 23.6 | 14.9 |
| Hungary | 36.9 | 22.7 | 14.2 |
| Bulgaria | 50.6 | 37.3 | 13.3 |
| Latvia | 51.4 | 38.1 | 13.3 |
| Luxembourg | 28.7 | 16.5 | 12.2 |
| Slovak Republic | 33.6 | 24.0 | 9.6 |
| Romania | 39.1 | 33.5 | 5.6 |
| Italy | 30.0 | 25.1 | 4.9 |
| Albania | 30.6 | 29.9 | 0.7 |
| Lithuania | 34.3 | 34.0 | 0.3 |

Displayed values are rounded; downloads retain calculation precision. Local-currency amounts are comparable only within a country. Table order does not imply a universal better-to-worse ordering.

## Inspect and reproduce

[All calculations and source hashes](https://www.pluraterra.com/data/insights/2026-11-02/analysis.json) · [Reproduce with Python](https://www.pluraterra.com/data/insights/2026-11-02/reproduce.py) · [Pinned source release](https://www.pluraterra.com/data/releases/2026-11-02-r3/manifest.json)

Original provider citations are in the pinned release. [Agent API and source datasets](https://www.pluraterra.com/developers/). For non-scalar details, peer memberships, source flags, intervals and sensitivity variants, use the analysis JSON.