The definition of child poverty: a discussion of concepts and measurements

Abstract

This paper presents and discusses different concepts of child poverty, alternative definitions of children living in poverty, and measurement efforts in this regard. It addresses such questions as: who are the children living in poverty? Is the issue of children living in poverty recognized by and incorporated into anti-poverty strategies? Have governments, civil society organizations and international organizations identified and adopted policies to reduce child poverty? And is the situation of girls living in poverty taken into account? Several organizations have recently adopted human rights-based approaches to defining children living in poverty, and these definitions are included here. In general, however, the assessment finds that there is a lack of consideration of children’s issues in the debate on poverty. The lack of visibility has negative implications for anti-poverty strategies, which seldom consider that children and their rights are central to their design and implementation. In this paper, we argue that the lack of conceptualization and debate on the specificities of child poverty has enormous consequences for policy and, vice versa, that the income generation and sectoral focus of poverty reduction policies discourages a holistic response to children and families.

A Philosophical Examination of Social Justice and Child Poverty

“…This leads to the extended lists that combine monetary thresholds with deprivation indicators. While this is certainly progress, some researchers call for even more multidimensionality and demand the inclusion of health, education and emotional well-being (Minujin et al 2006). We already mentioned that more differentiation regarding the dimension of space is needed.…”

Beyond Headcount: Measures that Reflect the Breadth and Components of Child Poverty

“…The extensive review in Minujin et al (2006) and in Roelen and Gassmann (2008) shows the wide spectrum in the choice of dimensions and indicators among the various child poverty measurement exercises. These are important choices which are subject to various considerations.…”

“…The seminal works of Amartya Sen (1980;1985;1992, 1999Foster and Sen, 1997) have systematically critiqued the income and utility focus of neoclassical economics and proposed that wellbeing be understood as multidimensional and considered in the space of capabilities 1 . Interestingly, while multidimensional studies were -and perhaps still are -relatively scarce in welfare economics, the debate concerning child wellbeing has predominantly followed a multidimensional perspective (for some reviews see: Minujin et al, 2006;Roelen and Gassmann, 2008). …”

Theoretical and Empirical Insights into Child and Family Poverty

“…Children's agency is usually absent, and where theory does engage with children, it is often as future workers or citizens rather than as actors with justice claims in their own right. Minujin et al (2006) reviewed the literature on the concept and measurement of child poverty and found that:…”