Child poverty and child wellbeing indicators in comparative perspective

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• Child poverty and child well-being indicators in
  comparative perspective

Jonathan Bradshaw Australian Research Alliance
for Children and Youth (ARACY) Access Grid
Seminar 21 August 2008
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Background

• Studies of inputs (welfare state effort)

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Background We can compare inputs

• OECD comparisons of welfare state effort
  social expenditure on families with children
• Child tax/benefit packages

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FAMILY SPENDING 2003
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Child poverty rate (circa 2000) by family exp. as
GDP 2003 (OECD data)
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Overall child benefit package Euros ppp 2004
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Average child benefit package 2004 average
earnings
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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

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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.

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Child poverty before and after cash benefits 2005
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Child poverty rate by child poverty gap own
analysis of SILC 2006
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Deprivation

• Enforced lack of
• Washing machine
• Colour TV
• Telephone
• Personal car
• Computer

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Child poverty by deprivation own analysis of
SILC 2006
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Economic stress

• Could not afford if wanted
• To face unexpected expenses
• One week holiday away from home
• To pay for arrears (rent/mortgage/utilities/HP)
• A meal with meat, fish, chicken every second day
• To keep home adequately warm

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Child poverty, economic stress and deprivation
own analysis of SILC 2006
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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 childrens lives.

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Conceptualisation of child well-being

• Multi-dimensional approach
• Based on childrens 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

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Data Sources I Surveys

• Health Behaviour of School Aged Children (HBSC)
  36 countries at 2001 (Australia not covered), now
  2005
• Programme for International Student Assessment
  (PISA) 32 countries at 2000, 41 at 2003, now 2006

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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

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Structure
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Overall child well-being OECD
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Overall child well-being index EU
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Overall child well-being index CEE/CIS
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Child well-being by child poverty r0.75
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Child well-being and teenage fertility rate
r 0.82
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Overall child well-being and of young people
saying they lived in a lone parent family
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Child well-being and educational attainment
r 0.15 (ns)
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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

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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 childrens 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?

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Thoughts for the ARACY report card

• Good track record Australian Unity Well-being
  Index (Bob Cummins PWI-SC)
• Absence of HBSC a problem for comparative
  analysis. Why?
• PISA has dropped subjective well-being questions
• OECD report will be useful
• National survey of subjective well-being -
  Childrens Society
• Small area index Natsem Robert Tanton

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• Child poverty and child well-being indicators in
  comparative perspective

jrb1_at_york.ac.uk Australian Research Alliance for
Children and Youth (ARACY) Access Grid Seminar 21
August 2008