UK child poverty worsening more than in other affluent nations

Its figures look at latest available child poverty rates across 39 high income and upper middle-income countries within the European Union and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

This analysis found that child poverty in the UK had increased by 19.6 per cent since 2014.

• Children feel the strain of the rising cost of living

• We need a national strategy to uphold children’s rights

This puts the UK bottom out of all 39 countries in terms of worsening child poverty rates. Also, the UK is now 28^th in terms of its latest child poverty figures from 2019 to 2021.

Other countries to see child poverty worsening include France, Iceland, Norway, and Switzerland.

In contrast child poverty rates have improved markedly in countries including Poland, where the rate has dropped by 37.6 per cent over the last decade. In Ireland the rate has fallen by 18.5 per cent.

In Canada the child poverty rate has fallen by 22.7 per cent, in South Korea by 29 per cent, while there has been success too in Japan, where the rate has fallen by 18.7 per cent.

Over 69 million children face financial hardship in some of the world’s wealthiest nations.

But there are good examples of child poverty reduction initiatives in countries like Slovenia and Poland.

Here’s how we can improve living conditions #ForEveryChild:

— UNICEF (@UNICEF) December 6, 2023

UNICEF is calling on all governments to expand social protection for children, such as family benefits.

It praises action by the Polish government, for example, to increase benefits for families to help the country reduce child poverty.

Meanwhile, in Slovenia an increase in the minimum wage has improve child poverty rates, UNICEF points out.

Ensuring all children have access to “quality basic services” such as childcare and education is also needed.

Governments also need to improve employment opportunities and support families to balance work and care responsibilities.

Better targeting of disadvantaged groups at risk of poverty is also needed, including single parent households, said UNICEF.

“Cash benefits have an immediate effect in alleviating poverty,” said Bo Viktor Nylund director of UNICEF’s Innocenti research centre.

“Decision makers can support households by prioritising and increasing expenditure on child and family benefits.

“A lot can be learned from the successes of different countries. How we use this learning will determine how effectively we can ensure children’s well-being today and in the future.”  

Child Poverty Action Group (CPAG) says UK politicians “are sitting on their hands” in tackling child poverty.

It calls for all parties to commit to scrapping the two child limit and cap on benefits, boosting child benefit support and to implementing a child poverty strategy across government.

“Nothing less will achieve long term change,” CPAG warned.