Child poverty in the midst of wealth
Report Card 18 presents current levels and historic trends of child poverty (monetary and multi-dimensional) in 43 OECD/EU countries; projections of future trends in view of current crises; a detailed analysis of policy responses to child poverty in each country; and practical policy recommendations for tackling child poverty. In a time of general…, The UNICEF Innocenti Report Card 18 reviews the status of child poverty in 43 high income and upper middle-income countries of the European Union (EU) and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). It provides data and assesses the progress – or lack of progress – that these countries have made towards eliminating child…, Child poverty: The current picture, Overall, in 40 countries of the EU and OECD for which data was available, poverty dropped by 8 per cent over a period of about seven years. In other words, 6 million fewer children lived in poverty in 2021 than in 2014. The country with the lowest child poverty rate is Denmark, where 9.9 per cent of children are poor. About 1 in 10 children live…, Prosperity: No guarantee for poor children, The data in Report Card 18 indicate that national wealth does not guarantee that a country will prioritize the fight against child poverty. Indeed, there is only a weak tendency for the wealthiest countries to have lower child poverty rates.7 Countries with similar national incomes sometimes have very different levels of child poverty. For example…, Supporting children and families, Meaningful and lasting improvements to the lives of children in poor households requires governments to invest in multiple services that touch children’s lives, including education, health, nutrition and labour market policies. Social protection is particularly important for children because they are more vulnerable to poverty and its consequences…, Recommendations, In some of the world’s richest countries, much more needs to be done to protect children from poverty. In 2015, countries around the world signed up to the Sustainable Development Goals, a plan for creating a better world that included a call to end poverty in all its forms, everywhere. In the high-income and upper middle-income countries of the…, Expand child-sensitive social protection, Social protection is essential for eradicating poverty – both in its monetary and nonmonetary forms. Through redistributing incomes, it is also a key element of reducing inequality. The countries included in this Report Card have made commitments, for example by ratifying the Convention on the Rights of the Child, to ensuring that all children can…, Improve and ensure access to essential services, Alongside financial support to households with children, the multidimensional nature of child poverty requires a second strand of policy to ensure that all children have access to basic services, beyond the household, that are essential for their well-being and development., Ensure decent work and family-friendly policies, Decent work with adequate pay and conditions offers a vital and dependable source of income for households with children. The success of Slovenia in reducing child poverty has been in part based on effective labour market policies. As well as boosting opportunities for such employment, policymakers should consider a comprehensive set of family-…, Act to reduce the inequalities in poverty risks, The evidence on the persistence of inequalities in poverty risks for children in many minority groups shows that it requires ongoing attention and effective action. Over and above universal provisions, additional tailored measures need to be taken to ensure that all children, and their households, have access to social protection, key services and…, Build support for child poverty reduction, Effective child poverty reduction policies require governments to place child poverty reduction at the heart of their priorities. Governments also have a critical leading role to play in building broad support for child poverty reduction through the engagement of other actors, including civil society, community leaders, employers, trade unions and…, Generate better data, The ability to learn from other countries, through comparative international analysis, rests on the availability of high-quality, comparable data. But there are still many gaps in such data. Moreover, data about the depth of child poverty – the poverty gap – are scarce. These shortcomings hamper the meaningful monitoring of children’s income…, Involve children in the poverty debate, We still know surprisingly little about children’s own ideas of what poverty is. When children have been asked, their views and ideas have often differed from those of adults. The opportunity for children to become involved in policy areas affecting their lives is supported by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Their…, 1 Innocenti Report Card 18Child Poverty in the Midst of Wealth Child Povertyin the Midstof Wealth Innocenti Report Card 18 2 Innocenti Report Card 18Child Poverty in the Midst of Wealth Executive summary In a time of general prosperity, more than 69 million children live in poverty in some of the worlds richest countries. Poverty is often defined…
