A new report into the lives of children across Europe indicates a number of red flags for policy makers here in the fight against child poverty and social exclusion.
The report, Guaranteeing access to services for children in the EU, is published by Eurofound, the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, based in Dublin. It shows that up to one quarter of children in the EU are at risk of poverty or social exclusion. When it comes to access for services for children, Ireland scores poorly in relation to early childhood education and care. Expenditure in this area, as well as in primary and secondary education is below the EU average.
For Irish children living in families experiencing “housing cost overburden”, the report finds a significant gap between income groups.
“This is a report that has the latest data, so far unavailable elsewhere. It is not just looking at poverty but also at access to services for children,” says its main author, Daniel Molinuevo, research manager in the social policies department at Eurofound. Its aim is to help the EU to look at child poverty and exclusion through a multidimensional lens.
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“Poverty goes beyond money,” he explains. “Naturally, we are looking at how much money parents have, which is what you think of when you think of child poverty, but it’s not just that. It is also access to services and how much it costs for essential aspects of living, such as housing. Data about access and costs is not usually available about children and families at risk of poverty and social exclusion.”
Fighting child poverty has become a central issue of EU social policy. One of the European Commission’s flagship initiatives is the European Child Guarantee, established in 2021.
“The aim of the Child Guarantee is to tackle child poverty and it deals with access to services such as healthcare, childcare and education. Our report analyses this not about looking at EU averages, but also looking behind those averages to see why some countries are doing well and some are lagging,” he adds.
Early indicators
For Ireland, it raises a number of areas for concern.
“When it comes to children at risk of poverty or exclusion (AROPE) rates, which is a measurement of child poverty, Ireland scores very close to the EU averages, except in the percentage of children living in a household with very low work intensity,” says Molinuevo.
“This is the percentage of children living in households where the adults worked for 20 percent or less of their total combined working time potential during the previous year. In Ireland in 2022 the percentage was 10.9 per cent, the highest in the EU. The EU average was 7.6 percent that year.”
The report also found a significant urban/rural divide in relation to child poverty in Ireland.
“In our report we look at AROPE rates at different levels of population density. In 2022, 7,860,000 children living in cities in the EU were at risk of poverty or social exclusion. This means that over one-quarter (25.5 per cent) of children living in urban areas experienced that risk,” he explains.
Across the EU average was 24.7 per cent for children living in in rural areas. In Ireland however the figures were 15.8 per cent in cities, and 26 per cent in rural areas, a difference of 10 percentage points.
“The data for Ireland shows the divide between urban and rural AROPE rates for children is much wider than the differences between EU averages for urban and rural areas. That’s important to bear in mind when we are talking about national averages,” he says.
Low rates of participation in early childhood education for children under three years of age, at 20.6 per cent in 2022, is another area of concern, as it is the lowest percentage in the EU.
“Given that the EU average was 35 per cent in 2022, the fact that it is so much lower here is fairly striking for Ireland,” he says. “The EU target for this age group is to have 45 per cent participation in childcare for the under threes in 2030, so Ireland is not even halfway there.”
Education had mixed results.
“We see one of the lowest rates of early school leavers here, which is good because it means people are not spending time in education coming out with no certification. What is surprising perhaps is that Ireland expends a fairly low percentage of its GDP on education, particularly at secondary level, if we compare it with the EU average,” he adds.
Inequalities in relation to housing cost overburden is another area of concern. The housing cost overburden rate is the percentage of the population living in households where the total housing costs (net of housing allowances) represent more than 40 per cent of disposable income (net of housing allowances).
“Children at risk of poverty in Ireland are 10 times more likely to face housing affordability issues than children who are not at risk of poverty and social exclusion,” he says.
It is a finding likely to have policy implications on issues such as energy poverty. “There are more costs in relation to housing, particularly if electricity and utility bills costs keep increasing,” he points out.
Despite the concerns raised, tackling child poverty and social exclusion is actually an issue Ireland can shed light on for other EU members.
“There are a number of activities happening here that are not happening elsewhere,” says Molinuevo. “These include the fact that Ireland has a minister for children, which many countries don’t. Ireland also has a child poverty unit and its First 5 strategy,” he says, referring to the whole-of-Government strategy to improve the lives of babies, young children and their families.
“There is a collaborative culture around this issue in Ireland, and that is positive.”
To find out more about child poverty in Ireland and the EU see the full report here