‘At a time of universal prosperity, more than 69 million children live in poverty in the world’s poorest countries’, states UNICEF in its latest report ‘Child Poverty in the Midst of Wealth’.

The report is based on a ranking of countries in the European Union and the OECD based on their latest available child income poverty indicators and their success in reducing child income poverty in times of overall prosperity. The highest ranked countries with the lowest child income poverty rates combined with the greatest success in reducing child poverty are: Slovenia, Poland and Latvia. France, the UK, Turkey, and Colombia are at the bottom of the ranking.

As UNICEF points out, OECD countries have experienced a period of prosperity in recent years. This period began in the aftermath of the 2008-2010 global recession and ended in many countries in 2019-2021 with economic repercussions because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine. Between 2012 and 2019, general prosperity provided an excellent opportunity to address child poverty. Some countries seized this opportunity, while others missed it.

The report states that during the period in question, “in Poland, child poverty decreased by 38 %. Slovenia, Latvia, and Lithuania reduced it by more than 30 %. In comparison, five countries – France, Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, and the UK – saw poverty increase by 10 % or more. In the case of the UK, the increase was 20 %.”

UNICEF pointed out that one of the most effective tools to combat child poverty is cash benefits for poor families. It highlighted that significant efforts in this area have been made in Greece, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Poland, and Turkey. In the Republic of Korea, spending on child cash benefits has almost tripled, from 3.1 % to 8.4 % of gross domestic product (GDP) per capita. In Poland, spending on cash benefits per child more than doubled from 6.6 to 15.8 %. In both countries, child poverty fell significantly.

Adrian Andrzejewski