Manuela Sofia Stanculescu is Senior Researcher at the Research Institute for the Study of the Quality of Life (RIQL), Romanian Academy, Bucharest and Associate Professor in the Faculty of Sociology and Social Work, University of Bucharest, Romania. Tine Stanovnik is Professor of Economics and Senior Reserach Fellow at the Institute for Economic Research, Ljubljana, Slovenia. He has been a Fulbright research scholar at the Institute for Social Research, University of Michigan and Drury University, USA. He has published widely on pension reform issues, income and income distribution, taxation and social protection. He has also acted as a consultant for the World Bank and the ILO.

• Contents: Introduction, Michael F. Förster; The changing landscape: demography and activity, Manuela Sofia Stanculescu; Changes in household income, income inequality and poverty: a comparative overview, Tine Stanovnik and Natasa Kump; The transition process and changes in income, income inequality and poverty: the case of Bulgaria, Silviya Nikolova; Changes in income, income inequality and poverty: the case of Hungary, György Molnár and Viktoria Galla; The transition process and changes in income, income inequality and poverty: the case of Romania, Manuela Sofia Stanculescu and Lucian Pop; The transition process and changes in income, income inequality and poverty: the case of Slovenia, Tine Stanovnik and Mitja Cok; Technical annex; References.