Comparative Perspectives on Child Poverty: A review of poverty measures

Abstract

Child poverty matters directly because children constitute a large share of the population, and indirectly for future individual and national well-being. Developed country measures of child poverty are dominated by income-poverty, although health and education are often included. But these are not necessarily the most direct measures of the things that matter to children. Moreover, a broader range of factors than material well-being matter for child development; family and community play an important role. The conclusion is that social and psychological variables are an important component of child welfare. Can such a conclusion be extended to developing countries? It might be thought not, since the dictates of a focus on absolute poverty imply concern with fundamentals such as malnutrition, illiteracy and premature death, and the things that cause these outcomes. But such a view is short-sighted. Child development concerns are at least as important in developing countries as developed ones, if less well understood. Hence, approaches to child welfare in developing countries (both measurement and policy) should also adopt a broad-based approach that embraces diverse aspects of the quality of a child' s life, including child rights.Children, Poverty, Income-Poverty, Child Development, Family, Education, Health,

A Global Measurement Approach versus a Country-Specific Measurement Approach - Do They Draw the Same Picture of Child Poverty? The Case of Vietnam

“…Minujin et al 2005). Children are dependent on their direct environment for the distribution of resources for the fulfillment of their basic needs, calling for the use of a poverty measurement that considers the child as a unit of analysis rather than the household or community it lives in (White, Leavy and Masters 2002). Poverty manifests itself as a vicious cycle and poor children often grow up to be poor adults (Corak 2006a).…”

Child Deprivation, Multidimensional Poverty and Monetary Poverty in Europe

“…They cannot be regarded as full economic agents exercising consumer sovereignty: they are not able to secure their own income/resources until a certain age and they are not sovereign in making consumption decisions (White et al 2002). They are usually the weaker parties in the household.…”

“…They are usually the weaker parties in the household. Moreover, for the fulfilment of their basic needs they have to rely more than adults on the production of goods and services by public authorities (especially in education and health, but also in public provisions and services) (Gordon et al 2003a(Gordon et al , 2003bMinujin et al, 2005;Notten and de Neubourg, 2011;Waddington, 2004;White et al, 2002).…”

Child Poverty in Ontario: The Value Added of Material Deprivation Indicators for Comparative Policy Analysis in North America

“…All North American countries signed the Convention of the Rights of the Child and therefore have a moral responsibility to uphold children's rights (White et al 2003). A vast literature documents the determinants and consequences of childhood poverty, finding that a child's current and future well-being is intrinsically linked.…”

“…Childhood poverty increases the chances of poverty during adulthood through a myriad of pathways between poverty, missed opportunities and child development (Brooks-Gunn, Duncan 1997, Duncan et al 1998, NICHD 2005, Oshio et al 2010, Lee 2011. Moreover, child well-being is multidimensional (Lipina et al 2011) implying that, in addition to unmet needs (material, emotional, environmental), poverty can also have psychological (stress, confidence, self-esteem) and social effects (exclusion, risky behaviours) (White et al 2003, Evans 2004, Lee 2011). This paper focuses on the material dimension of child poverty and compares income poverty and material deprivation indicators.…”