UNICEF Report Card 10: Measuring Child Poverty
CANADIAN COMPANION (excerpts)
Canada:
• Relative child poverty: 13.3 %
• Child poverty rate is 25.1% before taxes and
transfers
• After taxes and transfers, child poverty in
Canada is cut by about half, to 13.3 %
• Poverty gap i.e., the depth of child poverty: 23rd
among the 35 industrialized countries
• The Children Left Behind : measures the gap
between the average child (what a country may
consider 'normal') and the child near the bottom.
• It examines how far children are falling behind in
three dimensions of their lives:
1. material well-being,
2. educational achievement
3. physical health
• These differences in a country’s performance both
within and between countries can be measured
and compared.
http://www.unicef.ca/en/create-content/press-release/rich-countries-includingcanada-letting-poorest-children-fall-behind-sa
Child benefits in Canada’s 2012 budget: $13.2 billion
Elderly benefits: $40.4 billion
Index of intergenerational justice: Canada ranks below
the OECD average (Indicators in the index of
intergenerational justice : level of national debt, child
and pension policies, and investment in research)
Government action is the key to reduce child poverty:
• Canada must use two measures of child poverty –
relative income poverty measure, and Child
Deprivation Index –to guide policy & action to
reduce child poverty
• Poverty rate in Canada is almost halved while the
rate in USA remains almost unchanged
• Canada spends about 1.25 percent of GDP on
family benefits and tax breaks.
How poverty affects children:
• Growing up in poverty limits individual potential,
• Reduces country’s economic prosperity and
increases social costs for all, e.g., Courts and social
protection Health and hospital services Social
assistance
OECD countries:
• Lowest child poverty: Nordic countries and the
Netherlands 7%
• Highest : Japan, US & southern and eastern
European states
• Child poverty rate: Iceland 5%
• Romania 25%.
• Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United
Kingdom : 10%-15%