Income Inequality among Children in Europe 2008–2013

Publication date: 2016_15
Publication series:
Innocenti Working Papers
No. of pages: 40
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Abstract
With income inequality increasing and children
exposed to higher risks of poverty and material deprivation than the population
as a whole in the majority of European countries, there is a concern that
income inequality among children has worsened over the financial crisis. This
paper presents results on the levels of bottom-end inequality in children’s
incomes in 31 European countries in 2013 and traces the evolution of this
measure since 2008. The relative income gap worsened in 20 of the 31 European
countries between 2008 and 2013. Social transfers play a positive role in
reducing income differentials, as post-transfer income gaps are smaller than those
before transfers, especially in countries like Ireland and the United Kingdom.
Countries with greater bottom-end income inequality among children have lower levels
of child well-being, and higher levels of child poverty and material deprivation.
Available in:
English