Archive:Being young in Europe today - living conditions for children

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Data extracted in November 2014. Most recent data: Further Eurostat information, Main tables and Database

This article is part of a set of statistical articles based on the Flagship publication ‘Being young in Europe today’. It presents a range of statistics covering children’s (aged 0–17) living conditions in the European Union (EU), the vast majority of the data is derived from EU statistics on income and living conditions (EU-SILC), a wide-ranging source of information for analysing poverty and social exclusion. This article provides, among others: information relating to the risk of monetary poverty among children; details concerning the ease with which families with / without children can afford a range of goods; information on the housing conditions in which children live; as well as evidence linking a child’s risk of poverty and deprivation to their parents’ labour market situation and educational attainment.

Policymakers agree that children should ideally grow up in families with sufficient resources to meet their essential needs, while their future well-being is enhanced through ensuring they have access to a range of services and opportunities including, among others, early childhood education and recreational, sporting and cultural activities. Most EU Member States have a range of policies that aim to tackle child poverty: these tend to be based around promoting children's rights, although there are differences in the balance struck between promoting universal measures and targeting support at specific (vulnerable) groups. ^[1]

GIVING CHILDREN A LIFE CHANCE

Many people would argue that a child’s opportunities in life should, in an ideal world, not be pre-determined by the characteristics of the family into which they are born. However, a range of studies suggest that this is indeed the case and that children growing up in poverty or social exclusion are less likely to do well at school, enjoy good health, or achieve their full potential later on in life.

The risk of poverty among children appears to be closely linked to the composition of the household into which they are born, in particular, the labour market situation and educational attainment of their parents. Some commentators believe that such a cycle of poverty and social exclusion may be broken by targeting children in their early years. However, in light of the global financial and economic crisis, there has been an increase in the risk of poverty among children, which may at least in part be attributed to austerity measures and decreasing investment in children.

Main statistical findings

Poverty and social exclusion

Almost 3 out of every 10 children in the EU was at risk of poverty or social exclusion

Figure 1 shows the proportion of people at risk of poverty or social exclusion in the EU since 2005, with information presented for children (aged less than 18 years) and for the whole population. There was some progress made in reducing the risk of poverty or social exclusion up until the onset of the global financial and economic crisis in 2008. However, during the crisis and thereafter there was an increase in the share of the population that was at risk of poverty or social exclusion. This was particularly true for children, as the gap between the rate for children and that for the whole population was wider following the crisis (a difference of 3–4 percentage points over the period 2009–13). By 2013, almost 3 out of every 10 children living in the EU-28 — some 27.6 % — was living at risk of poverty or social exclusion.

EU POLICY MEASURES IN RELATION TO POVERTY AND SOCIAL EXCLUSION AMONG CHILDREN

The [platform against poverty and social exclusion] is one of seven flagship initiatives of the Europe 2020 strategy which advocates not only smart and sustainable — but also inclusive — growth. The European Council adopted in June 2010 a headline target for social inclusion, namely, that by 2020 there should be at least 20 million fewer people in the EU who are at risk of poverty or social exclusion. This headline indicator measures the number of people affected by at least one of three forms of poverty: monetary poverty, material deprivation or low work intensity. To meet the overall target, individual EU Member States have set their own national targets, these are generally expressed as absolute numbers of people to be lifted out of the risk of poverty or social exclusion (compared with national levels for 2008). The EU financially supports such actions through its social investment package and through the EU’s funds, in particular the European Social Fund.

A European Commission Recommendation, Investing in children: breaking the cycle of disadvantage (2013/112/EU) addresses poverty and social exclusion among children, promoting children’s well-being. It encourages the EU Member States to go beyond ensuring children’s material security, by promoting equal opportunities so that all children can achieve their full potential, providing a focus on children who face an increased risk due to multiple disadvantages. It stresses the need to develop integrated strategies based on three pillars:

access to adequate resources (for example, providing children with adequate living standards through a combination of benefits);
access to affordable quality services (for example, reducing inequality by investing in early childhood education and care, or improving the responsiveness of health systems to address the needs of disadvantaged children); and
promoting children’s right to participate (for example, supporting the participation of children in play, recreation, sport and cultural activities).

Subdivision 2

Data sources and availability

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Other information

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Directive 2003/86/EC (generating url [http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:32003L0086:EN:NOT Directive 2003/86/EC]) of DD Month YYYY on ...
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Notes

↑ See ‘SPC advisory report to the European Commission on tackling and preventing child poverty, promoting child well-being’of 27 June 2012 (http://europa.eu/epic/news/2012/20121213_council_conclusions_on_preventing_and_tackling_child_poverty_and_social_exclusion_and_promoting_childrens_well_being_en.htm)

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[1] See ‘SPC advisory report to the European Commission on tackling and preventing child poverty, promoting child well-being’of 27 June 2012 (http://europa.eu/epic/news/2012/20121213_council_conclusions_on_preventing_and_tackling_child_poverty_and_social_exclusion_and_promoting_childrens_well_being_en.htm)

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