Description:
This Study on Child Poverty and Child Well-Being in the European Union was commissioned to produce (i) an in-depth empirical analysis of child poverty and the related key challenges for each Member State, (ii) an assessment of the effectiveness of policies to combat child poverty and promote social inclusion among children, and identification of policy mixes that seem to be most effective in tackling the specific factors underlying child poverty and (iii) recommendations for a limited set of indicators and breakdowns that are most relevant from a child perspective and that best reflect the multidimensional nature of child poverty and wellbeing in the European Union.
The report identifies material and non-material dimensions of child well-being that are relevant to monitor. The material dimensions cover the resources of the household that the child has access to (or lacks) during his/her life and development, including indicators of income, material deprivation, housing and the labour-market attachment of members of the household. The non-material dimensions cover both the resources a child has access to (or lacks) during his/her development and the outcomes at different stages of this development, like education, health, exposure to risk and risk behaviour, social participation and relationships, the family environment and the local environment. The focus of the report is mostly on material wellbeing and poverty, but in various parts of the report, a broader range of non-material aspects is also considered.
Findings include:
-The risk of poverty among children is, in general, higher than among the population as a whole in most of the Member States. While children face the highest risk of poverty in the two newest Member States (Bulgaria and Romania), the relative risk of poverty among children (as compared to the adult population) is highest in Hungary and the Czech Republic. By contrast, the risk of poverty among children is lower than for the population as a whole in Denmark, Germany, Estonia, Cyprus, Slovenia and Finland.
- The risk of poverty among children is, in general, higher than among the population as a whole in most of the Member States. While children face the highest risk of poverty in the two newest Member States (Bulgaria and Romania), the relative risk of poverty among children (as compared to the adult population) is highest in Hungary and the Czech Republic.