Child poverty in the Nordic countries: Definitions, measures and consequence

• Main Author: Eriksson Bodil
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Faculty of Political Sciences, University of Banja Luka, Bosnia and Hercegovina and Institute for Political Studies, Belgrade, Serbia 2012-01-01
• Series: Politeia
• Online Access: http://scindeks-clanci.ceon.rs/data/pdf/2232-9641/2012/2232-96411203089E.pdf

The Nordic countries are highly ranked in different statistical surveys on welfare and policy on a fairer distribution of income among different groups in the society. In social policy we talk about a Scandinavian model aiming to give the citizens basic economic and social security to reduce poverty. This model includes general and selective policies in areas as housing, income and social issues. The state is the main deliver of welfare services, even if private providers funded by the state are taking a bigger part of the delivery today. There are transfer payment to different groups, as families with children who get child allowances. The aim is to create good living conditions with equal opportunities to education and future life. During the last decade the welfare policy has been questioned and we have seen a development towards a more restricted welfare policy. Different statistics point at rising gaps of income between social groups in the Nordic societies. During an expert seminar on child poverty in the Nordic countries in the end of 2009, organized by the Swedish National Committee of the International Council of Social Welfare (ICSW), scholars and representatives from authorities and NGOs from the Nordic member organizations met in order to compare the situation in their respectively country. One topic of discussion was how to measure child poverty and what impact different measures have. In this article I will use this conference as a starting point when I discuss different definitions of child poverty and the prevalence of child poverty in the Nordic countries.