Economic crisis pulls 2.6M children in world’s richest nations below poverty line

At least 2.6 million children have fallen below the poverty line in the world’s richest nations since the economic crisis struck in 2008, UNICEF said in a hard-hitting report today. The “Children of the Recession” study showed the number of minors living in poverty in 41 countries had swollen to 76.5 million since the deepest crisis since the Great Depression took hold. The study by the United Nations’ children’s aid agency assessed members of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development grouping of industrialised nations, as well as European Union countries.

Many affluent countries have suffered a ‘great leap backwards’ in terms of household income, and the impact on children will have long-lasting repercussions for them and their communities.

Jeffrey O’Malley, UNICEF’s head of global policy and strategy

It found that in 23 of the 41 countries, child poverty had risen as a direct result of the crisis. Children were particularly hard-hit in nations that have suffered the most. In Ireland, Croatia, Latvia, Greece and Iceland, poverty rates rose by more than 50 percent. In Greece, the most symbolic of all Europe’s crisis casualties, median household incomes for families with children had sunk to the 1998 level — the equivalent of receding 14 years on the income ladder. Those in Ireland and Spain lost a decade, as did Luxembourg, even though it remains among the wealthiest economies in Europe.

All countries need strong social safety nets to protect children in bad times and in good, and wealthy countries should lead by example, explicitly committing to eradicate child poverty, developing policies to offset economic downturns, and making child well-being a top priority.

Jeffrey O’Malley