Child Poverty

Editor: Justin Healey
ISBN 978 1 920801 74 8
Year 2007

Price: $20.95

  

Child Poverty
Volume 264, Issues in Society

Child poverty is an epidemic in most developing countries, and also exists in developed countries, including Australia. In many developed countries the official definition of poverty used for statistical purposes is based on relative income. More than 30% of children in developing countries – about 600 million – live on less than US $1 a day. Every 3.6 seconds one person dies of starvation, usually it is a child under the age of 5. Poverty hits children hardest and creates an environment that is damaging to children's development in every way – mental, physical, emotional and spiritual. UNICEF recently released a report comparing life for children in 24 OECD countries. Australia ranked second from the bottom, with 12% of this nation's children living in households where the total income was less than half the country's median; 10% of the child population lives in households where no adult is employed; many will have only one parent and, as two-thirds of single parents have left school by the end of year 10, these children are likely to become part of a generational cycle of poverty. This book examines child poverty from a global and Australian perspective. What can be done to give impoverished children a better chance in life?

Chapter 1  Global Child Poverty
Understanding poverty; Causes of child poverty; Effects of child poverty; Poverty at a glance; Issues in child poverty; The rights of a child; Empower women to help children; Report provides "wake-up" call for child wellbeing in Australia; What works best in reducing child poverty: a benefit or work strategy?; Half-hearted pledge leaves millions hungry; Our aid report card: can dig deeper; Ending poverty is within our grasp.

Chapter 2  Child Poverty in Australia
Economic boom bypassing poor: study; Child poverty: a review; Poverty: children and young people in Australia; Australia not immune to child poverty; The child poverty league; Paying idle parents is bad for our kids; In a prosperous society the little ones are suffering; 500,000 still in poverty; Wielding the big welfare stick won't beat down child poverty; Schooling choice leaves poorest to struggle: study; Country children at a disadvantage; Children living in poverty at dangerously high level; Poor kids saddled with disadvantages for no fault of theirs; Help for children; Babies die from rich-poor divide; Poverty a killer for Australian children.

Glossary; Facts and Figures; Additional Resources; Index



FAST FACTS from this volume
  • It has been estimated that in 2001, 1.1 billion people had consumption levels below $1 a day and 2.7 billion lived on less than $2 a day.
  • Living standards have risen dramatically over the last decades. The proportion of the developing world’s population living in extreme economic poverty – defined as living on less than $1 per day ($1.08 in 1993 dollars, adjusted to account for differences in purchasing power across countries) – has fallen from 28% in 1990 to 21% in 2001.
  • Infant mortality rates in low- and middle-income countries have fallen from 86 per 1,000 live births in 1980 to 60 in 2002. Life expectancy in these countries has risen from 60 to 65 between 1980 and 2002.
  • Adult literacy has also improved, though serious gender disparities remain. Male adult literacy rose from 78% to 83% in low- and middle-income countries between 1990 and 2002, while female literacy rates rose from 62% to 70%.
  • While there has been great progress in reducing poverty, it has been far from even, and the global picture masks large regional differences.
  • About 1 billion people – one fifth of the world’s population – live on less than $1 a day. Poverty incidence has decreased from 29% of global population in 1990 to 18% in 2004.
  • At current trends, the poverty Millennium Development Goal of reducing extreme poverty by 50% from its 1990 level by 2015 will be achieved. At the global level, 12% of the population in developing countries will live on $1 a day or less in 2015.
  • The decline in poverty is highly uneven across regions. In East Asia and the Pacific, by 2015 the percentage of people living on $1 a day will drop to less than 3%. However a still significant 15% share will be below the $2 a day poverty line indicator. At the other extreme is Sub-Saharan Africa, which is projected to have a $1 a day poverty rate of 36% in 2015. While this represents a drop from the 41% level of 2004, it is still well above the target of 23% which is needed to meet the poverty Millennium Development Goal.
  • According to a study commissioned by UNICEF, which cited seven forms of childhood deprivation, one billion children in developing countries suffer from at least one form of severe deprivation. The seven forms of deprivation are lack of adequate food, safe drinking water, sanitation, health, shelter, education and access to information.
  • The report, Child Poverty in Perspective: An Overview of Child Wellbeing in Rich Countries, examined 21 OECD countries in detail on 40 indicators including poverty, relationships with parents, health, safety, education, behaviour and own sense of wellbeing. The report concluded that 11.6% of Australian children live in poverty and ranked Australia: 14th in “Child health and safety”; 7th in “Child educational wellbeing”; and in the bottom half of the table for infant mortality.
  • Australia was among 186 nations that vowed in 1996 to reduce the ranks of the hungry to 618 million by 2003, and 413 million by 2015. Yet, despite $US709 billion ($916 billion) in foreign aid and healthy economic growth across much of the developing world during the past 10 years, one person in six does not have enough to eat. A child starves to death every three seconds.
  • Australia will give $2.9 billion in government foreign aid this financial year – up 15% – and the Prime Minister has pledged to lift spending to $4 billion by 2010. But, even then, public foreign aid as a share of national wealth is estimated to reach only 0.38%.
  • 12.9% of Australians were poor in 2003, compared with 11.6% in 1990. But the face of poverty is changing. Single people, men, and the elderly were more likely to be poor than in the past, and children were better off.
  • The Government’s family payments have improved the position of all families with children, but the big fall in sole parent poverty occurred in the early 1990s. The proportion of children under 15 in poverty fell from 24.7% in 1990 to 18% in 2003.
  • Australia has 14.7% of children living in poverty, which has fallen 1.7% in the past decade according to a UNICEF report. Along with the US, Britain and Norway, only these four countries reported a drop.
  • At least 500,000 children, or 11.6% of Australians under the age of 18, are estimated to be living in poverty. The Brotherhood of St Laurence report, Social Barometer: Children’s Chances, shows that compared with 25 other OECD countries, nine countries have proportionally fewer children living in poverty than Australia.
  • The report, Social Barometer: Children’s Chances, claims that children from disadvantaged families fared worse than other children on many indicators and the differences began at birth.
  • The infant mortality rate for boys born into the country’s poorest homes was 78% higher than for those born into the wealthiest homes. For girls, the infant mortality rate was 62% higher in the poorest areas.
  • Children in low-income families were less likely to be immunised or attend preschool. They were also at a greater risk of experiencing abuse and mental health problems. The children were more likely to have literacy and numeracy problems, leave school early and be unemployed.
  • Children make up almost half of all homeless people in Australia. Every day 200 children and their families are turned away from homelessness services because of a lack of accommodation.