23/03/2001 (Agence Europe) - A university study entitled "miserable Europe" made public on 8 March, indicates that more than 5 million British citizens live in a state of absolute poverty. 2 million of them often go hungry. According to the criteria defined in 1995 by the UN, "absolute poverty" is characterised by the lack of food, access to drinking water, health care facilities, medical care, housing, education and information. The study blames the weakness of social services in the United Kingdom for the inevitable fall of the most deprived into the darkest poverty. The investigation, which was carried out over two years throughout the European continent, underlined that Great Britain has become a special case in Europe, having reduced its social services to such an extent that it has "detached" itself from other countries.