1. Child poverty and child well-being Jonathan Bradshaw Workshop ACWA08 Strong, safe and sustainable; responding to children, young people and families in civil society Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre 18 August 2008

2. Background  Comparisons of state efforts on behalf of children  Work at York on children: Bradshaw and Mayhew (2005) Child well-being in the UK, Save the Children  Luxembourg Presidency EU: Atkinson recommends “child mainstreaming” and development of child well- being indicators for EU.  We develop of an index of child well-being based on existing comparative data sources for EU (Bradshaw, J., Hoelscher, P. and Richardson, D. (2007) An index of child well-being in the European Union 25, Journal of Social Indicators Research, 80, 133-177.)  UNICEF asks us to adapt it for Innocenti Report Card 7  Now working on Index for CEE/CIS countries for UNICEF: Geneva

3. FAMILY SPENDING 2003

4. Child poverty rate (circa 2000) by family exp. as % GDP 2003 (OECD data)

5. Background: We can compare inputs  OECD comparisons of welfare state effort – social expenditure on families with children  Child tax/benefit packages

6. “Average” child benefit package 2005

7. Fertility and the child benefit package

8. We can compare outcomes for children  OECD comparisons of welfare state effort – social expenditure on families with children  Research on child outcomes has usually been comparisons of child poverty

9. Child poverty  EU, OECD, LIS (and UNICEF) have most commonly compared child well-being using relative income poverty measures.  Flawed  Income is not well-being  Income data unreliable  Income poverty thresholds arbitrary and  Level of living different  Equivalence scales contested  Income poverty rates hide gaps and persistence.  RP 7 an attempt to move beyond income – to put it into perspective

10. Our background  Work at York on children: Bradshaw and Mayhew (2005) Child well-being in the UK, Save the Children  Luxembourg Presidency EU: Atkinson recommends “child mainstreaming” and development of child well- being indicators for EU.  We develop of an index of child well-being based on existing comparative data sources for EU (Bradshaw, J., Hoelscher, P. and Richardson, D. (2007) An index of child well-being in the European Union 25, Journal of Social Indicators Research, 80, 133-177.)  UNICEF asks us to adapt it for Innocenti Report Card 7  Now completed on Index for CEE/CIS countries for UNICEF: Geneva

11. UNICEF  UNICEF Innocenti Centre has been publishing Report Cards since 2000  League Tables of rich (OECD) nations  1 and 6 on income poverty  2 on child deaths  3 on teenage births  4 on educational inequality  5 on abuse and neglect  Latest 7 on child well-being “to encourage monitoring, to permit comparison and to stimulate the discussion and development of policies to improve children’s lives.”

13. Conceptualisation of child well-being  Multi-dimensional approach  Based on children’s rights as outlined in the UN CRC  Ideology  Child the unit of analysis  What children think and feel is important  Well-being more important than well-becoming

14. Every Child Matters: Outcomes framework  Economic well-being: having sufficient income and material comfort to be able to take advantage of opportunities.  Being healthy: enjoying good physical and mental health and living a healthy lifestyle.  Staying safe: being protected from harm and neglect and growing up able to look after themselves.  Enjoying and achieving: getting the most out of life and developing broad skills for adulthood.  Making a positive contribution: developing the skills and attitudes to contribute to the society in which they live.

15. Multinational indicators for monitoring and measuring child well-being  Safety and physical status  Personal life  Civic life  Economic resources and contribution  Activities  Source: http://multinational-indicators.chapinhall.orghttp://multinational-indicators.chapinhall.org

16. Well-being of children in Ireland

17. Conceptualisation of child well-being  Multi-dimensional approach  Based on children’s rights as outlined in the UN CRC  Ideology  Child the unit of analysis  What children think and feel is important  Well-being more important than well-becoming

18. The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC)  contains 54 articles that cover every aspect of a child’s life,  applying without exception or discrimination to all children under 18.  The articles of the UNCRC divide into the broad areas of  survival rights,  development rights,  protection rights and  participation rights.  The Convention states that the primary consideration in all actions concerning children must be in their best interest and their views must be taken into account

19. Conceptualisation of child well-being  Multi-dimensional approach  Based on children’s rights as outlined in the UN CRC  Ideology  Child the unit of analysis  What children think and feel is important  Well-being more important than well-becoming

20. Data Sources I: Surveys  Health Behaviour of School Aged Children (HBSC) 36 countries at 2001 (Australia not covered)  Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 32 countries at 2000, 41 at 2003

21. Data Sources II: Series  WHO mortality data base 1993-1999, all countries except DK & CY  World Bank World Development Indicators 2003, all countries  OECD (2004) Education at a Glance, 2002 data  Other OECD sources  World Bank (2002) Health, Nutrition and Population Data

22. Structure  40 indicators organised into  19 components making  6 dimensions  Material  Health and safety  Education  Peer and family relationships  Behaviours and risks  Subjective well-being

23. Overall child well-being: OECD

24. Overall child well-being index: EU

25. Overall child well-being index: CEE/CIS Table 0.1 Average rank MaterialHousingHealthEducation Personal and Social Family For ms and Car e Risk and Saf ety Croatia 3.41114179 Bosnia Herzegovina 4.89313-211 FYR Macedonia 6.38103634 Serbia 6.656911735 Uzbekistan 7.51426-1382 Turkmenistan 7.6-915-464 Belarus 8.36542111416 Montenegro 8.67118137212 Bulgaria 10.627145161218 Ukraine 10.64137891914 Kazakhstan 11.11512101121711 Russia 11.331553171620 Kyrgyzstan 11.716171118596 Romania 12.0101916714513 Armenia 12.1178191215113 Georgia 13.6184171561817 Turkey 14.013-1217--- Azerbaijan 14.11116201619107 Albania 14.41214189201315 Tajikistan 14.419182110 158 Moldova 16.120 214182019

26. Material  Relative child income poverty OECD  Child deprivation  Lacking car, own bedroom, holidays last year, a computer HBSC  Lacking a desk, quiet for study, a computer, calculator, dictionary, text books PISA  Less than ten books in the home PISA  Parental worklessness OECD

31. Child well-being by child poverty r=0.75

32. Health  Health at birth  Infant mortality rates (WDI 2003)  Low birth weight (OECD Health Data)  Immunisation  Measles WDI (2003)  DPT3 WDI HNP (2002)  Pol3 WDI HNP (2002)  Child mortality  All child deaths: All under 19 deaths per 100,000 children, WHO mortality database, 3 year averages, MRD

38. Behaviours and Risks  Health behaviour  Eating fruit every day (HBSC)  Eating breakfast before school (HBSC)  Physical activity (HBSC)  Obesity and pre obesity (HBSC) Experience of violence  Young people who were involved in physical fighting at least once in the previous 12 months 11, 13 and 15 years (%) - HBSC 2001/02  Young people who were bullied at least once in the previous couple of months 11, 13 and 15 years (%) - HBSC 2001/02  Risk behaviour  Teenage pregnancy (adolescent fertility rate), adolescent fertility rate, births per 1000 women 15-19 - WDI, 2003.  Young people who have had sexual intercourse, 15 years (%) - HBSC 2001/02  Young people who used a condom during their last sexual intercourse, 15-year-olds (%) - HBSC 2001/02  Cigarette smoking at least once per week HBSC 2001  Drunk two or more times HBSC 2001  Cannabis used in the last 12 months HBSC 2001

40. Child well-being and teenage fertility rate r = 0.82***

41. Subjective Well-being  Personal well-being  Young people with scores above the middle of a life satisfaction scale 11, 13 and 15 years (%) - HBSC 2001/02  Students who agree or strongly agree to 'I feel like an outsider (or left out of things)', 15 years (%) - PISA 2003  Students who agree or strongly agree to 'I feel awkward and out of place', 15 years (%) - PISA 2003  Students who agree or strongly agree to 'I feel lonely', 15 years (%) - PISA 2003  Well-being at school  Young people liking school a lot 11, 13 and 15 years (%) - HBSC 2001/02  Self defined health  Young people rating their health as fair or poor 11, 13 and 15 years (%) - HBSC 2001/02

43. Peer and family relationships  Quality of family relations  Students whose parents eat the main meal with them around a table several times a week, 15 years (%) - PISA 2000  Students whose parents spend time just talking to them several times a week, 15 years (%) - PISA 2000  Family structure  Young people living in 'single parent' family structures 11, 13 and 15 years (%) - HBSC 2001/02  Young people living in 'Stepfamily' family structures 11, 13 and 15 years (%) - HBSC 2001/02  Peer relationships  Young people finding their peers kind and helpful 11, 13 and 15 years (%) - HBSC 2001/02

46. Overall child well-being and % of young people saying they lived in a lone parent family

47. Education  Achievement  Reading literacy achievement, 15 years - PISA, 2003  Mathematics literacy achievement, 15 years - PISA, 2003  Science literacy achievement, 15 years - PISA, 2003  Participation  Full-time and part-time students in public and private institutions, by age: 15-19 as a percentage of the population of 15 to 19-year-olds (2003) LU SK (2002)  Aspirations  Percentage of the youth population not in education, not in the labour force or unemployed - age 15-19 - OECD, 2003  Proportion of pupils aspiring to low skill work, 15 years - PISA, 2000

50. Child well-being and educational attainment r = 0.15 (ns)

51. What explains these variations?  Very difficult  Probably depends on domain – need for more detailed work  National wealth matters

52. Overall child well-being and GDP per capita complete countries

53. WHY?  Very difficult  Probably depends on domain – need for more detailed work  National wealth matters  Policy effort matters

54. Child well-being and expenditure on social protection benefits as % GDP 2003

55. WHY?  Very difficult  Probably depends on domain – need for more detailed work  National wealth matters  Policy effort matters  Direction of that effort matters

56. Child well-being by expenditure on family benefits and services as % GDP all countries

57. Self criticism  Partly data driven  Countries dropped  Indicators missing for some countries - USA  Some well-being indicators not available – housing, citizenship….  Validity and reliability of indicators – low birth weight  Focus on older children  Out of date  Summarising indicators  Z scores  Implied weights  Weighting equal except differences in indicators per dimension  No direct access to HBSC  Cumulating % without regard to confidence intervals  No measures of dispersion

58. Thoughts about further work  First attempt: Obviously good if  Australia, Iceland, Japan and NZ were in HBSC  And US asked HBSC questions about sexual behaviour and children’s feelings!  Also to have HBSC data more quickly and direct access  Also OECD updated their poverty estimates more regularly  Further analysis worthwhile – data available  Is it pie in the sky to ask for a better international survey of children?

59. Child poverty and child well-being Workshop jrb1@york.ac.uk ACWA08 Strong, safe and sustainable; responding to children, young people and families in civil society Sydney Convention & Exhibition Centre 18 August 2008