Child Poverty in Comparative Perspective

Abstract

This paper draws on comparative evidence on child poverty in Europe. It is in four parts. The first section reviews evidence on the prevalence of child poverty, the second examines the characteristics of poor children, and the third reviews the evidence on how child poverty has changed in European countries over the last decade or so. The fourth part of the paper examines comparative evidence on the demographic, labour pre-transfer and policy factors related to the variations in child poverty observed. The article concludes with a review of the strengths and weaknesses of the comparative research on child poverty and the measures designed to relieve it.