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Does Child Income Poverty Measure Child Well-Being Internationally?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 October 2008

Jonathan Bradshaw
Affiliation:
Social Policy Research Unit, University of York E-mail: jrb1@york.ac.uk
Dominic Richardson
Affiliation:
Social Policy Research Unit, University of York E-mail: jrb1@york.ac.uk

Abstract

To date the main indicator used to compare the well-being of children in industrialised countries has been the proportion of children in income poverty. This article exploits data from recent work developing indices of child well-being in EU, OECD and CEE/CIS countries to explore whether child income poverty is a good representation of a wider understanding of child well-being. Using the poverty estimates in each index, as well as more recent estimates for the European Union, we find that for OECD countries income poverty still has some explanatory power but this is not the case for EU and CEE/CIS countries.

Type
Themed Section on The Poverty of Policy? Gaps in Anti-Poverty Policy for Children and Young People
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2008

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