Child poverty and well-being in the EU current status and way forward

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PART I: ANALYSIS OF CHILD POVERTY AND SOCIAL EXCLUSION IN THE EU 9

INTRODUCTION TO PART I 10

SECTION I - THE SITUATION OF CHILDREN AT RISK OF POVERTY IN THE EU 12

I.1 CHILD POVERTY OUTCOMES ACROSS THE EU 12
I.1.1 The concept of “poverty risk” and some other technicalities 12
I.1.2 19 million children living under the poverty threshold in the EU-27 13
I.1.3 Poverty thresholds of typical families (2 parents and 2 children) vary widely within the EU-27 15
I.1.4 How severe is the poverty of poor children? 16
I.1.5 Trends in child poverty 17

I.2 HOUSEHOLD CHARACTERISTICS: CHILDREN IN LONE-PARENT HOUSEHOLDS OR IN LARGE FAMILIES ARE MOST AT RISK 20

I.2.1 In which types of households do poor children live? 21
I.2.2 In the EU-25, 13% of children live in a lone-parent household 22
I.2.3 Large families in the EU-25 24
I.2.4 Age profile of parents 24
I.2.5 The impact of parents' educational achievement: four in five children livewith at least 1 parent who has fulfilled secondary education 26

I.3 LABOUR MARKET SITUATION OF PARENTS 27
I.3.1 Earnings are the primary source of income for families 27
I.3.2 Joblessness: a persistent trend that significantly affect children 28
I.3.3 The specific employment situation of parents 29
I.3.4 Mother’s employment and child poverty 31
I.3.5 Work intensity and poverty: the impact of parents attachment to work on thefinancial situation of families 32
I.3.6 The impact of joblessness and low work intensity 33
I.3.7 In-work poverty of families remains an issue in the majority of EU countries,parental work protects children from poverty to varying degrees in the EU 34

I.4 GOVERNMENT INTERVENTION 37
I.4.1 Levels of social expenditures and at-risk-of-poverty rates of children:those who spend most have the lowest poverty rates 38
I.4.2 In the EU-25, social transfers alleviate the risk of poverty for children to varyingdegrees 39
I.4.3 Benefits specifically targeted at children have the strongest impact on childpoverty 39
I.4.4 Relative spending on children through the family function variesfrom 1 to 3 within the EU 41
I.4.5 Are family benefits targeted at poor children? 42
I.4.6 The role of childcare 43
I.4.7 What can we learn from research on the way government transfers impact onchild poverty? 45

I.5 KEY FINDINGS ON CHILD POVERTY RISK AND ITS MAIN DETERMINANTS 45

SECTION II - OTHER ASPECTS OF CHILD POVERTY AND SOCIAL EXCLUSION 51

II.1 MATERIAL DEPRIVATION OF HOUSEHOLDS WITH CHILDREN 51
II.1.1 Deprivation: are children more at risk than the overall population? 51
II.1.2 Deprivation and monetary poverty: two complementary measures of povertyand social exclusion 52
II.1.3 Deprivation and household type 55
II.1.4 Are poor children the only ones to be deprived relative income poverty anddeprivation? 55

II.2 EDUCATIONAL OUTCOMES OF CHILDREN 57II.2.1 School drop outs 57
II.2.2 School performance of children 58
II.2.3 Intergenerational transmission of disadvantage – first results from the EU-SILC2005 module 58

II.3 FOCUS ON CHILDREN FROM A MIGRANT BACKGROUND 63

PART II: POLICY MONITORING AND ASSESSMENT OF CHILD POVERTY ANDWELL-BEING IN EU MEMBER STATES 67

INTRODUCTION TO PART II 68

SECTION I - DATA SOURCES USED IN THE MONITORING OF CHILD POVERTYAND CHILD WELL-BEING 69
I.1 GENERAL HOUSEHOLD SURVEYS 70
I.2 ADMINISTRATIVE/REGISTERS SOURCES 71
I.3 SPECIFIC DATA SOURCES ON CHILDREN IN VULNERABLE SITUATION 72
I.4 SPECIAL SURVEYS ON CHILDREN 73
I.5 MICRO-SIMULATION 75
I.6 INTERNATIONAL SURVEYS 76

SECTION II - INDICATORS AND THE DIMENSIONS OF WELL-BEING 78
II.1 ILLUSTRATIVE SELECTION OF INDICATORS BY DIMENSIONS OF WELL-BEING 78
II.1.1 Economic security and material situation 79
II.1.2 Housing 80
II.1.3 Local environment 80
II.1.4 Health 81
II.1.5 Education 82
II.1.6 Social participation and family environment 82
II.1.7 Exposure to risk and risk behaviour 83

II.2 MAIN USE OF INDICATORS 84

II.3 LEVEL OF BREAKDOWNS 84

II.4 TYPES OF DATA SOURCES 857SECTION

III - IN-DEPTH REVIEW OF GOVERNANCE AND MONITORING ARRANGEMENTS INSELECTED COUNTRIES; GOOD PRACTICES 86

III.1 SELECTION OF 8 FOCUS COUNTRIES 86

III.2 KEY FEATURES OF REVIEWED MONITORING SYSTEMS 86

III.3 IN-DEPTH COUNTRY REVIEWS 88
III.3.1 Denmark 89
III.3.2 Germany 93
III.3.3 Ireland 97
III.3.4 Italy 103
III.3.5 Portugal 107
III.3.6 Romania 111
III.3.7 Finland 115
III.3.8 The United Kingdom 120

PART III: CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS AIMED AT BETTERMONITORING AND ASSESSING CHILD POVERTY AND WELL-BEING 125INTRODUCTION TO PART III 126

SECTION I - CONCLUSIONS 126I.1 SETTING QUANTIFIED OBJECTIVES 126

I.2 ASSESSING THE IMPACT OF POLICIES ON CHILD POVERTY AND SOCIAL EXCLUSION 127

I.3 ORGANISING REGULAR MONITORING OF CHILD POVERTY AND WELL-BEING 128
I.3.1 Need for regular reporting on progress made by Member States in the field ofchild poverty risk and well-being 128
I.3.2 Monitoring child poverty risk 128
I.3.3 Monitoring child well-being 129

I.4 A COMMON FRAMEWORK FOR ANALYSING AND MONITORING CHILD POVERTYAND SOCIAL EXCLUSION 130

I.5 REINFORCING STATISTICAL CAPACITY 131
I.5.1 General household surveys 131
I.5.2 Administrative and registers sources 131
I.5.3 Specific data sources on children in vulnerable situation 131
I.5.4 Special surveys on children 132
I.5.5 International surveys 132

I.6 IMPROVING GOVERNANCE AND MONITORING ARRANGEMENTSAT ALL RELEVANT POLICY LEVELS 133

SECTION II - SPC RECOMMENDATIONS 134II.1 SETTING QUANTIFIED OBJECTIVES 134

II.2 ASSESSING THE IMPACT OF POLICIES ON CHILD POVERTY AND SOCIAL EXCLUSION 134

II.3 MONITORING CHILD POVERTY AND WELL-BEING 134

II.4 A COMMON FRAMEWORK FOR ANALYSING AND MONITORING CHILD POVERTYAND SOCIAL EXCLUSION 136

II.5 REINFORCING STATISTICAL CAPACITY 136

II.6 IMPROVING GOVERNANCE AND MONITORING ARRANGEMENTSAT ALL RELEVANT POLICY LEVELS 137

ANNEXES 139

ANNEX 1: METHODOLOGICAL NOTES 140
ANNEX 2: TABLES 145
ANNEX 3: SUPPORTING FAMILIES WITH CHILDREN THROUGH TAXES AND BENEFITS – AN EXAMPLE OF MICROSIMULATION ANALYSIS 176
ANNEX 4 – SUMMARY TABLE ON INDICATORS USED IN THE CONTEXT OF POLICY MAKING 185