Child poverty

The fight against child poverty in the EU is, first and foremost, a matter for individual states. Yet following the Lisbon Strategy, a development plan set out by the European Council in 2000, EU governments have promised to place children at the center of political dealings. Furthermore, the European Commission has set out criteria defining child poverty, how it arises, spreads and how it can be combated.

The most recent report on child poverty by the Commission was published in February 2008; in other words, before the financial crisis began. The figures are likely to have worsened in the meantime. Then 19 million children in the EU were classified as poor, on average every fifth child. The EU defines poor as earning 60 percent of the average income in each respective member state. For a family in Germany with two children, that means 1,600 euros ($2,300) per month.

Poverty impacts all areas of life

The EU is keen to stress, however, that this does not just mean money as a means to consume, rather that child poverty takes away access to education (and therefore a good start in life), damages health and excludes youngsters from a large part of cultural and social life. That is another point Brussels stresses: child poverty is a negative economic factor for each country. It's not just about sympathy and justice, but rather that economic policy should have a vested interest in nurturing and supporting children.

The EU Commission is especially concerned about unemployment. Out-of-work parents are the biggest cause of child poverty. This leads to a vicious cycle that is hard to escape. Negative factors in families suffering from unemployment are often passed down from generation to generation. According to the report, immigrant families are most at risk. They suffer not only disproportionately from difficult financial circumstances, but also their children experience social and cultural exclusion.

Policy solutions are the key

The EU recommends to individual states a host of social, economic and cultural policies, including active employment and childcare policies, financial aid for families and integrated education and health policies.

And it has lauded the European states that lead in the fight against child poverty. The Scandinavian countries, the Netherlands, Austria, Cyprus and Slovenia all came out favorably in the Commission's report - in other words, not just rich countries. They received praise for their comprehensive policies as the relatively high level and effectiveness of their welfare systems ran parallel with active employment policies and good childcare options. Italy, Britain and Spain came out the worst, with Germany somewhere in the middle.

Author: Christoph Hasselbach (rt)
Editor: Nancy Isenson