Children at risk of povertyor social exclusion Statistics Explained

Source : Statistics Explained (https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statisticsexplained/) - 15/10/2020 1

Data extracted in October 2020.Planned article update: November 2021.

This article presents statistical data on the situation of children (aged less than 18 years) in the European Union(EU) who were at risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) .

The analysis compares children with working-age adults (aged 18-64 years) and older people (aged 65 yearsand over), and also examines the impact of the household type , employment situation, parents’ educationallevel , parents’ migrant background and severe material deprivation . All figures are based on statistics on in-come and living conditions (EU-SILC) available from Eurostat’s online database . EU-SILC data are availablefor the EU Member States, as well as the United Kingdom and most of the EFTA and candidate countries .

Key findingsIn 2019, an estimated 22.5 % of children (aged less than 18 years) in the EU-27 were at risk of poverty or socialexclusion compared with 21.5 % of working-age adults (aged 18-64 years) and 18.6 % of older people (aged 65years and over).

Factors influencing the risk of poverty or social exclusion in the EU-27 in 2019 included:

• type of household — households composed of a single person with dependent children (40.3 %), singlepersons (32.0 %) and two adults with three or more dependent children (27.2 %) had the highest risk ofpoverty or social exclusion;

• work intensity — 69.4 % of the population aged less than 60 years living in very low work intensityhouseholds with dependent children were at risk of poverty;

• level of education — 50.8 % of children whose parents’ level of education was low were at risk of povertycompared with 7.5 % of children whose parents’ level of education was high;

• migrant background — children with at least one parent with a migrant background were at a greaterrisk of poverty than children whose parents were both native born (31.7 % compared with 14.4 %);

• living conditions — 10.5 % of households composed of a single person with dependent children wereseverely materially deprived compared with 5.6 % of all households with dependent children.

Children growing up in poverty and social exclusionChildren growing up in poverty and social exclusion are less likely to do well in school, enjoy goodhealth and realise their full potential later in life, when they are at a higher risk of becomingunemployed, poor and socially excluded

The risk of poverty or social exclusion (AROPE) is defined as the share of the population in at least oneof the following three conditions:

1. at risk of poverty, meaning below the poverty threshold ,

2. in a situation of severe material deprivation ,

3. living in a household with a very low work intensity .

From 2010 to 2019, the risk of poverty or social exclusion for children fell in the EU-27 from 27.3 % to 22.5% (see Figure 1 ). However, in six EU Member States the risk of poverty or social exclusion for childrenwas higher in 2019 than it had been in 2010, with the largest increases in Sweden (up 3.8 percentage points) and Luxembourg (up 3.1 points; note that there is a break in series). Among the Member States where therisk was lower in 2019 than it had been in 2010, the largest decreases in the risk of poverty or social exclusionwere observed in Poland (down 14.8 points), Bulgaria (down 15.9 points; note that there is a break in series),Hungary (down 16.3 points) and Latvia (down 23.3 points).

Figure 1: Share of children aged less than 18 years at risk of poverty or social exclusion, 2010and 2019 (%) Source: Eurostat (ilc_peps01)

Regarding the overall situation in 2019 (see Infographic 1 ), the share of children living in a household at riskof poverty or social exclusion ranged from 11.7 % in Slovenia, to 33.9 % in Bulgaria and 35.8 % in Romania.The average for the EU-27 was 22.5 %.

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Infographic 1: Share of children aged less than 18 years at risk of poverty or social exclusion,2019 (%) Source: Eurostat (ilc_peps01)

The risk of poverty or social exclusion varies across age groups. In 2019, 22.5 % of children (aged less than 18years) in the EU-27 were at risk of poverty or social exclusion compared with 21.5 % of working-age adults (aged18-64 years) and 18.6 % of older people (aged 65 years and over). Children were the age group with the highestat risk of poverty or social exclusion rates in 12 out of the 27 EU Member States (including 2018 data for Irelandand Italy). In Latvia, Estonia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Lithuania, Slovenia, Malta, Czechia, Cyprus, Germany andPoland, older people were most at risk, while in Denmark, the Netherlands, Greece and Finland, working-ageadults were the age group with the highest risk. Despite the fact that either older people or working-age adultshad the highest risk of poverty or social exclusion in countries in these two groups, children had the secondhighest risk of poverty or social exclusion in most of them. In fact, looking at all 27 Member States, childrenonly had the lowest risk of poverty or social exclusion among these three age groups in Germany, Croatia,Latvia, Poland, Slovenia and Finland.

In most EU Member States, the risk of poverty or social exclusion for children was above that for the wholepopulation. In 2019, the largest differences — where the rate for children exceeded that for the whole populationby more than 4.0 percentage points — were observed in Sweden, Romania, France, Luxembourg, Spain andSlovakia. By contrast, in nine Member States the risk of poverty or social exclusion for children was below thatfor the whole population: the rate for children was 8.4 points lower in Latvia.

The highest risk of poverty or social exclusionThe main factors affecting child poverty or social exclusion, after taking account of the effect of social transfersin reducing child poverty, are the composition of the household in which the children live and the labour marketsituation of their parents, which in turn is linked to some extent to the parents’ level of education.

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Household structure has a significant effect on the total household disposable income

People living in different types of households have different at risk of poverty or social exclusion profiles (seeFigure 2 ). When defining household types, the concept of dependent children (individuals aged less than 18years or aged 18-24 years if economically inactive and living with at least one parent) is used instead of theconcept of children (aged less than 18 years).

Figure 2: Share of the population at risk of poverty or social exclusion, analysed by householdtype, EU-27, 2019 (%) Source: Eurostat (ilc_peps03)

In the case of people living in single-person households with dependent children in the EU-27, 40.3 % were at riskof poverty or social exclusion in 2019, compared with 15.1 % of people living in households with two adults andone dependent child. More generally, the risk of poverty or social exclusion for a single person with dependentchildren was 19.2 percentage points higher than the average for all types of households with dependent children(40.3 % compared with 21.1 %). Some other household types with dependent children also recorded relativelyhigh rates for the risk of poverty or social exclusion, for example, 27.2 % for people living in households withtwo adults and three or more dependent children and 23.7 % for people living in households with three or moreadults with dependent children.

It should however be noted that the risk of poverty or social exclusion in the EU-27 for people living inhouseholds with dependent children was the same in 2019 as for people living in households without dependentchildren, both 21.1 %. As such, people living in some households without dependent children also had a rela-tively high risk of poverty or social exclusion. The rate for single-person households without dependent childrenwas comparatively high with 32.0 %.

Highest risk of poverty in very low work intensity households with dependent childrenLabour is the most important source of income for most households and thus has an impact on the risk ofpoverty. Work intensity reflects how much working-age adults in a household worked in relation to their total

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work potential in a year. Living in a household with a very low work intensity is one of the three criteria forsomeone being at risk of poverty or social exclusion. Very low work intensity includes households in whichall working-age adults are jobless and also those where some — but only a very low amount of — work isdone. Specifically, people who live in a household with very low work intensity are defined as people who livein a household where, on average, the working-age adults worked less than or equal to 20 % of their potentialworking time in a year.

Figure 3 provides an analysis of the subpopulation of people aged less than 60 years, looking at the sharethat are at risk of poverty depending on the work intensity of their households and whether or not there aredependent children in the household.

In the EU-27, 69.4 % of people living in households with very low work intensity with dependent childrenwere at risk of poverty, compared with 55.0 % for people living in similar households but without dependentchildren. Considering households with all other work intensities together (from low to very high, thereforeexcluding very low), the comparable shares were 13.8 % for people living in households with dependent childrenand 8.9 % for those living in households without dependent children.

Figure 3: Share of the population aged less than 60 years at risk of poverty, analysed by workintensity of the household, EU-27, 2019 (%) Source: Eurostat (ilc_li06)

As can be seen from Figure 3, people living in households with dependent children were at a greater risk ofpoverty than those living in households without dependent children across all levels of work intensity in theEU-27 in 2019. Furthermore, the gap in the risk of poverty between households with and without dependentchildren increased as the work intensity decreased. This difference in the at-risk-of-poverty rate ranged from 1.0percentage points for very high work intensity households to 14.4 points for very low work intensity households.

Impact of parents’ education on the risk of povertyAround half of the children in the EU-27 whose parents did not attain more than a lower sec-

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ondary education were at risk of poverty

Education affects the type of job an individual can access and the risk of poverty rises as the level of edu-cation diminishes. In the EU-27, just over half (50.8 %) of children living in households in which the highestlevel of education attained by the parents living in the same household was at most lower secondary level (ISCED levels 0-2 ) were at risk of poverty in 2019, compared with 7.5 % for children living in households inwhich the highest level of education attained by their parents was a tertiary level of education (ISCED levels5-8) — see Figure 4 . This risk of poverty gap based on the parents’ level of education — between the highestand lowest levels of education — was therefore 43.4 percentage points.

Figure 4: Share of children aged less than 18 years at risk of poverty, analysed by the highestlevel of education attained by their parents, EU-27, 2019 (%) Source: Eurostat (ilc_li60)

The difference between the risk of poverty for children with parents with low and high levels of education rangedamong the EU Member States from 21.5 percentage points in Poland and 23.3 points in Hungary to 70.0 pointsin Romania and 72.6 points in Slovakia.

Parents’ country of birth and the risk of poverty: migrant background also mattersChildren in the EU-27 with a migrant background had a higher risk of poverty

In 2019, children with at least one foreign-born parent were at greater risk of poverty than children withnative-born parents (see Figure 5 ). The difference was 17.3 percentage points, resulting from a rate of 31.7 %for children with at least one foreign-born parent compared with 14.4 % for children whose parents had bothbeen born in the reporting country.

The greatest differences in 2019 between children with native-born parents and those with at least one foreign-

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born parent were recorded in Sweden (36.4 percentage points higher for children with at least one foreign-bornparent) and Spain (32.0 points higher). For 10 other EU Member States, the difference was more than 15.0points. In nine of the remaining Member States the rate for children with at least one foreign-born parent wasless than 10.0 points higher than for children with native-born parents. In Lithuania, the rates were the samefor both groups of children. In the remaining four Member States for which data are available (incompletedata for Romania) — Latvia, Portugal, Slovakia and Hungary — the at-risk-of-poverty rate was even higherfor children with native-born parents, although the difference in the rates was in all cases quite small (0.2-1.7points).

Figure 5: Share of children aged less than 18 years at-risk-of poverty, analysed by country ofbirth of their parents, 2019 (%) Source: Eurostat (ilc_li34)

In Spain, just over half (51.1 %) of children with at least one foreign-born parent were at risk of poverty in2019, which was the highest rate among the EU Member States. The next highest rates were 43.7 % in Swedenand 40.2 % in Italy (2018 data). The lowest rate was observed in Hungary (8.8 %).

Severe material deprivation rates in different types of householdsIn 2019, people living in the EU-27 in households composed of a single person with dependentchildren were more likely to be severely materially deprived than people living in other house-holds with dependent children

Indicators of material deprivation provide a complementary view of well-being and living conditions (see adhoc modules on material deprivation ). Unlike the risk of poverty, which is an indicator based on income rela-tive to a national average, the indicators of material deprivation and severe material deprivation are absolutemeasures: these indicators measure the share of people who are unable to afford at least three (material depri-

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vation rate) or at least four (severe material deprivation rate) of nine items considered to be desirable or evennecessary to lead an adequate life. See the Data sources section below for more information.

In 2019, 5.6 % of people living in the EU-27 in households with dependent children were severely materi-ally deprived, the same rate as recorded for households without dependent children — see Figure 6 . Amongthe types of households with dependent children shown in Figure 6, people living in households composed of asingle person with children had the highest severe material deprivation rate, 10.5 %. Other types of householdswith dependent children that also had above average severe material deprivation rates were relatively large, suchas those composed of two adults with three or more dependent children (7.0 %) and those composed of three ormore adults with dependent children (7.9 %). By contrast, people living in households composed of two adultswith one (3.8 %) or two dependent children (3.5 %) were less likely to face severe material deprivation.

Figure 6: Severe material deprivation rate, analysed by household type, EU-27, 2019 (%) Source:Eurostat (ilc_mddd13)

Source data for tables and graphs• Children at risk of poverty or social exclusion: tables and figures

Data sourcesThe data used in this article are primarily derived from EU-SILC. EU-SILC data are compiled annually andare the main source of statistics that measure income and living conditions in Europe; it is also the main sourceof information used to link different aspects relating to the quality of life of households and individuals.

The reference population for the information presented in this article is all private households and their cur-rent members residing in the territory of an EU Member State (or non-member country) at the time of datacollection; persons living in collective households and in institutions are generally excluded from the targetpopulation. The data for the EU-27 are population-weighted averages of national data.

At-risk-of-poverty or social exclusion rate (AROPE) — this indicator is the headline indicator to monitor

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the Europe 2020 strategy’s poverty target. It reflects the share of the population which is at risk of poverty,and/or severely materially deprived and/or lives in a household with very low work intensity.

At-risk-of-poverty rate (AROP) — this indicator is the share of people with an equivalised disposableincome (after social transfer) below the at-risk-of-poverty threshold, which is set at 60 % of the national medianequivalised disposable income after social transfers. This indicator does not measure wealth or poverty, but lowincome in comparison to other residents in that country, which does not necessarily imply a low standard ofliving.

Material deprivation — this is defined as the enforced inability (rather than the choice not to do so) toafford a selection of items considered by most people to be desirable or even necessary to lead an adequate life.The items are:

1. to pay rent, mortgage or utility bills;

2. to keep a home adequately warm;

3. to face unexpected expenses;

4. to eat meat or proteins regularly;

5. to go on holiday;

6. a television set;

7. a washing machine;

8. a car;

9. a telephone.

The material deprivation rate measures the proportion of the population that cannot afford at least three of thenine items, whereas the severe material deprivation rate measures the proportion of the population that cannotafford at least four of the nine items.

Children with migrant background — a child is considered to have a migrant background if at leastone of the parents living with him/her was foreign born. On the other hand, a child is considered to be native-born if both parents living in the household are native-born or, if there is only one parent in the household,that parent is native-born.

Highest level of education attained by parents living in the child’s household — educational ac-tivities are classified according to ISCED — the international standard classification of education. The 2011version has the following levels:

• ISCED level 0 — early childhood education;

• ISCED level 1 — primary education;

• ISCED level 2 — lower secondary education;

• ISCED level 3 — (upper) secondary education;

• ISCED level 4 — post-secondary non-tertiary education;

• ISCED level 5 — short-cycle tertiary education;

• ISCED level 6 — bachelor’s or equivalent level;

• ISCED level 7 — master’s or equivalent level;

• ISCED level 8 — doctoral or equivalent level.

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ContextEU statistics on income and living conditions (EU-SILC) is the reference source for statistics and indicators onincome and living conditions. Its legal basis is the Framework Regulation (EC) No 1177/2003 .

Other articles• Living conditions in Europe — housing quality

• Housing statistics

• Income poverty statistics

• Living conditions in Europe — material deprivation and economic strain

• Living conditions in Europe — poverty and social exclusion

• Quality_of_life_indicators

Tables• Income and living conditions (t_ilc)

Database• Income and living conditions (ilc) , see:

People at risk of poverty or social exclusion (Europe 2020 strategy) (ilc_pe)

Main indicator - Europe 2020 target on poverty and social exclusion (ilc_peps)

Income distribution and monetary poverty (ilc_ip)

Monetary poverty (ilc_li)

Dedicated section• Employment and social inclusion indicators

• Europe 2020 indicators

• Income and living conditions

• Quality of life

Publications• International Day for the Eradication of Poverty

– Downward trend in the share of persons at risk of poverty or social exclusion in the EU — 17 October:International Day for the Eradication of Poverty; 2019

– Downward trend in the share of persons at risk of poverty or social exclusion in the EU — 17 October:International Day for the Eradication of Poverty; 2018

• EU children at risk of poverty or social exclusion

• Living conditions in Europe — 2018 edition

Children at risk of poverty or social exclusion 10

Methodology• Income and living conditions (ESMS metadata file — ilc_esms)

• Income and living conditions — information on data

• Income and living conditions — methodology

• Measuring material deprivation in the EU — Indicators for the whole population and child-specific indi-cators Methodologies and working papers

Legislation• Detailed list of legislative information on EU-SILC provisions for survey design, survey characteristics,

data transmission and ad-hoc modules

• Regulation (EC) No 1177/2003 — the central piece of legislation for EU-SILC

• Summaries of EU Legislation: EU statistics on income and living conditions

External links• European Commission — Directorate-General for Employment, Social Affairs & Inclusion — Employment

and Social Developments in Europe 2020

• OECD — Better Life Initiative: Measuring Well-being and Progress

• OECD— StatExtracts — Income distribution — Inequality: Income distribution — Inequality — Countrytables

• Social investment

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