Child poverty: is the political will finally coming?

3 out of 10 children and adolescents grow up at risk of poverty and/or social exclusion in our home. With the raw data of 34.5%, Spain ranks first in child poverty in the European Union, and what is worse: the evolution shows an upward trend (the rate is 2 points higher than in 2022 and is the highest since 2015), according to a report by the European Anti-Poverty Network (EAPN) . The Catalan rate is 32.6% and in the city of Barcelona it is 32.3%, about 76,443 children and adolescents. Unfortunately, households with children and teenagers, especially single-parent households, are more at risk of poverty and/or exclusion than the population as a whole or other types of households. 

Beyond the averages, no one should be unaware of the differential reality of the territories that, for example, the districts of Ciutat Vella and Nou Barris in Barcelona, ​​have child poverty rates that are much higher than the average of city 

In-work poverty ( although it has experienced a slight improvement in recent years) and the cost of housing (which continues to suffocate many households , especially when there are children) are at the base of the impoverishment of children's living conditions. 2 out of 10 boys and girls in Barcelona suffer from severe social and material deprivations, such as not being able to go on holiday for one week a year, not being able to cope with an unforeseen expense of €700 or not being able to keep the house at a suitable temperature (both in winter and in summer). 

That is why Europe has asked Spain to deal with it. And the Minister of Children and Youth, Sira Rego, made it very clear this July : "We must close the investment gap in childhood that we have with the rest of the EU. Go from 1.5% of GDP to 2.4%. We have the tools, we have the wealth. We just need to redistribute it. And the only ingredient needed to do that is political will ." Europe asks the Spanish state to increase aid to families with children (Spain has historically been characterized by having a very weak system of transfers to families) and to increase the guarantees so that more families can benefit from the aid available (for example only 2 out of every 10 families potentially benefiting from the supplement for children linked to the Minimum Vital Income end up receiving it).

Barcelona prepares a strategy against child poverty

Fortunately, the alerts have activated mechanisms in the right direction: Spain deploys from 2022 and until 2030 the  State Action Plan for the Implementation of the European Child Guarantee , which will respond to the recommendation that Europe sent to all its member states to develop plans and strategies to prevent and combat child poverty , break the cycle of intergenerational transmission of poverty and promote equal opportunities. 

At the regional level, and in line with the new Challenge Agenda for the update of the Pact for Children (2023) , last March the Strategy for the fight against child poverty in Catalonia 2024-2030 was presented , with the aim of reducing child poverty decisively and moving towards equal opportunities for all children and adolescents in Catalonia. 

And, at the local level, Barcelona is in the process of drawing up its own strategy to combat child poverty, for 2025 and with a horizon of 2030. 

The levers to break the cycle of inequality

Perhaps one of the most hopeful elements of the new political strategies to fight against child poverty is that, apart from strengthening the income transfer system (Minister Rego wants to promote a universal benefit of €200 per dependent child) they focus in the levers to break the cycle of reproduction of inequalities . Because a child who grows up in poverty has a high probability of suffering poverty in adulthood and of having a home in which his sons and daughters will also suffer poverty.

This is why it is so important that plans and strategies not only improve the system of transfers to households with dependent children, but that they are complemented by measures that guarantee effective and free access to early childhood education and care services ; to a compulsory quality education and free access to extracurricular activities ; in health care (also ophthalmology, dentistry and orthopedics); to a healthy diet and, at least, one healthy meal per school day; and also to guarantee adequate housing (cost and habitable conditions).

We have identified these levers for change in the aforementioned measures, so that Europe, Spain, Catalonia and Barcelona would be aligned in the main axes of the fight against child poverty. The results are yet to be shown, but this new political focus is expected to generate a change in the trend in poverty rates by 2030. 

And the fight against childhood poverty is not only a matter of social justice and guaranteeing the recognized rights of children. It is also a challenge of collective intelligence . Just last year a report by the High Commission for the Fight against Child Poverty calculated that child poverty has a cost of at least 63,079 million euros per year, which is the equivalent of 5 .1% of Spanish GDP in 2019. And it does not refer to the cost of financing childhood policies (we indicated at the beginning of the article that it is only 1.5% of GDP), but rather on the contrary, it refers to the cost of not doing so. Not investing in childhood translates at the country level "in a reduction in productivity (because it reduces the potential for employment and income of future workers), in a reduction in the quality of life and the state of health, and in an additional burden on the cost and efficiency of public services”.

Which tells us that maintaining high levels of child poverty is not only profoundly unfair, but also highly inefficient (remember: 1.5% of investment GDP - totally insufficient - translates into 5.1% of GDP in costs for not having invested more in childhood). Investing in childhood will not only reduce this cost-benefit gap but will speak of a society that cares about current generations, and future generations.