Child Poverty and Child Well-Being in International Perspective

Abstract

Early international comparisons of child well-being have tended to use relative child income poverty rates. There are reasons to doubt the reliability of the relative child income poverty rate especially in comparative analysis. This chapter therefore explores the relationship between the relative income child poverty rate and the multi-dimensional index of child well-being developed in the UNICEF Innocenti Report Card 11. It finds that the material domain which includes the relative child income poverty rates is associated with all the other five domains of child well-being and also with overall well-being even when the material domain is excluded. Two indicators of child deprivation in the material domain are most closely associated with overall well-being. But the third most closely associated indicator is the relative child poverty rate. This is a remarkable finding given that the child income poverty rate is a relative indicator with very different levels in different countries. It suggests that child well-being may itself be driven partly or mainly by relativities in a society rather than absolute and objective conditions.