CHILD POVERTY IN THE NORDIC COUNTRIES – DEFINITIONS , MEASURES AND CONSEQUENCE

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 isthe 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 opportunitiesto education and future life. During the last decade the welfare policy has been questioned and we have seen adevelopment towards a more restricted welfare policy. Different statistics point at rising gaps of income betweensocial groups in the Nordic societies. Duringanexpert 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 orderto compare the situation in their respectively country. One topic ofdiscussion 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 Idiscuss different definitions of child poverty and the prevalence of child poverty in the Nordic countries.


Introduction
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 isthe 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 opportunitiesto education and future life.
During the last decade the welfare policy has been questioned and we have seen adevelopment towards a more restricted welfare policy.Different statistics point at rising gaps of income betweensocial groups in the Nordic societies.Duringanexpert 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 orderto compare the situation in their respectively country.One topic ofdiscussion 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 Idiscuss different definitions of child poverty and the prevalence of child poverty in the Nordic countries.

Definitions of child poverty
There isa multitude of definitions of child poverty, emphasizingdifferent dimensionssuchas economy, social relations and health.It is crucial to have an awareness of the implications brought on by the choice of definition, since the definition implies a certain set of indicators of poverty and therefor certain measures.The prevalence of poverty varies depending on thechosen indicators.
When investigating child poverty you need to stipulate what a child, in a specific society, need in order to survive and develop.It is fundamental to understand child poverty as a social problem in orderto reduce or eliminate poverty and also to define the responsibility of the state.Using different definitions in different countries and contexts implies a risk that comparability will be small. 1here are different ways of looking at child poverty; • As absolute or relative poverty, • As objective or subjective poverty, • Aseconomic or social poverty.
Absolute poverty is about the level of scarcity of fundamental means to survive and develop.In Sweden we can see that poverty in absolute terms has decreased during the last two decades, as the realincomes did rise 2 .Relative poverty is about comparisons in the society -poor people are those having lessthan everyone else in the same society.Relative child poverty means that children do nothave access to what is considered as normal and necessary goods in the specific society.
Objective poverty is measured as an "objective fact" defined by people from outside, e.g.researchers or politicians with power to define.Usually income or other information onmaterial consumption is used to measure the rate of poverty.Subjective poverty is about the own experience of oneself aspoor.
Many measures of poverty account economic facts as income, disposable incomeetcetera, while measures on social poverty also take into consideration social contacts, friendsand conditions to be able to take part in social contexts, health and so on.

Definitions of absolute poverty
Measures of absolute poverty are often economic and objective as the UN definition of 2 US Dollars a day as a minimal income.In Sweden the government uses a definition of absolute poverty as a family income below the norm for needassessed benefit.
Save the Children Sweden usesa measurementof child poverty in their annual reports, by a combination of low income standard in familiesand families getting need-assessed benefit at least once during a year.Low income standard is a measure relating disposable income per family member to a norm on living costs (used as the level to get need-assessed benefit) plus a norm on costs for housing 3 .The poverty "Политеиа", бр. 3, Бања Лука, јун 2012.limit is then defined as below 1,0 and implies that the family does not have income enough to pay expenses for a minimal basic consumption and housing.This measure gives comparability on economic conditions over time and between different types of families, with and without children.It is also makes itpossible to measure the distribution of means to survive between different types of families4 .The argument for using this combined measureis that it catches different parts of the population with different kinds of economic vulnerability.It also catches groups entitled to benefits, but not asking for them.The overlapping between the two categories is determined andconsidered in the measure.Using this measure you get a rate of poverty of 10.9 % 2007.As a whole the report from 2011 shows that the gap between rich and poor children are increasing and theconsequences for many children are discrimination and negative impact on health, education and social development.Somegroups; children with immigrated parents, children with a single parent, children with a single parent with a foreign background and children in some districts in the big cities and in some municipalities are the most vulnerable5 .
Another way of measuring poverty as absolute and objective poverty is built on a definition emanating from the Convention of the Right of the Child(CRC).It is a definition of poverty pointing at many dimensions of life.UNICEF's has a working definition of child poverty, presented in The State of the Worlds' Children 20056 : Children living in poverty [are those who] experience deprivation of the material, spiritual and emotional resources needed tosurvive, develop and thrive, leaving them unable to enjoy their rights, achieve their full potential or participate as full and equal members of society.
This definition points at different rights for a child and economyis only one type.The rights are connected to different paragraphs in the convention.This measure implies a way of comparing the situation of children with the rights in the CRC and the dimensions of poverty is then connected to shortage on rights7 .
• Economic rights include material support as food, clothing and housing on a standard of living necessary for the development of the child.One dimension of poverty, economic resources, is measured as disposable income, long-time dependency on need-assessed benefits, low living standard and difficulties to pay daily expenses ( §27).
• Another dimension is social rights implying social security for the child, including qualitative relations to parents, resources in the family, housing and social environment, secure social relations in school and leisure time ( §5,8,9,19,23,26,31  & 34).
• Right to health and life includes quality of food, physical respectively psychical health, and access to social and health service ( §6 &24).
• Right to knowledge and education is suggested to be measured as drop out from school, lack of knowledge, lacking knowledge in Swedish language, and lack of knowledge on the own rights ( § 28 & 29).
• Right to democratic rights is measuring influence and equality, discrimination of different kind ( § 2, 12, 13, 14, 15 & 23)  This definition is pointing at different dimensions of poverty as democratic, economic, social, health and knowledge.
Relative poverty Looking at statistics from the EU and OECD it is clear the mostcommon measures of poverty used were relative,objective and economic.Thesecomparisons are built on definitions of income.In these international comparisons from OECD or the EU the definition of poverty is stipulated as all households with adisposable family income less than 60% (or 50%) of the median income of all households in thecountry during one year.This is an equalized measure taking into account the number offamily members living on the income.It relates poverty to the income in the country, but it isnot consideringthe costs of living.It is not taking into account differences inpublic service as subventions e.g.free health care orday care.In many international comparisons from the EU the poverty limit is measured asthe number of households having a disposable income less than 60% of the median income inthe country.
Table 1.Relative Child Poverty in some countries with income less than 50% respectively 60% of median income in the country year 2007.Source: Luxembourg Income Study, 20078 the number offamily members living on the income.It relates poverty to the income in country, but it isnot consideringthe costs of living.It is not taking into account differen inpublic service as subventions e.g.free health care orday care.In many internatio comparisons from the EU the poverty limit is measured asthe number of households havin disposable income less than 60% of the median income inthe country.Great Britain 17 28 When you compare children's standard of living in the Nordic countries with the rest of world including the USA, Great Britain and Canada it points at a low level of poverty in Nordiccountries.Greenland is an exception in the Nordic sphere with child poverty rating 1 when using 60% of median income as compared with 9% using 50% year 2007 9 .The Dan government prefers using 50% as a limit for low income arguing that poverty in Denmark is an issue of economy 10 .The difference between the two measures is in Denmark 4% of child When you compare children's standard of living in the Nordic countries with the rest of the world including the USA, Great Britain and Canada it points at a low level of poverty in the Nordiccountries.Greenland is an exception in the Nordic sphere with child poverty rating 18% when using 60% of median income as compared with 9% using 50% year 20079 .The Danish government prefers using 50% as a limit for low income arguing that poverty in Denmark is not an issue of economy10 .The difference between the two measures is in Denmark 4% of children are poor if you use 50% as compared with 11% if you use 60%.In Sweden the figures on child poverty are 4% using 50% and 9% using 60% 2007.These figures are lower than ones you get when using the definition from Save the Children.
Other measures on economic and material standard are built on a minimum level ofconsumption, as the number of families getting need-assessed benefit from the society orfamilies without housing/ getting support from non-governmental organizations.
A criticism against using income and need-assessed benefits as measures for poverty is that itdoes not give the true picture.People with low income entitled to benefit, but not asking forit, might have other sources for income.For example there are self-employedpeople using their firm, not to maximize salary, but using the assets of the firms to raise thestandard of living.The economic situations of children, who live in turn with separatedparents, are difficult to estimate.On the other hand these kinds of measures are used both nationally and internationally and give possibilities to compare over time and between countries.

Definitions related to subjective poverty
An alternative way of stipulating a norm of relative poverty is to ask the public opinion about theirview on which items are necessary and normal for children to have access to.What isincluded in this norm is of course depending on the specific society and the standard ofliving.It varies between societies and time.Is a mobile phone and own room necessities inthe Nordic societies today?This measure on what "the society considers as necessary andnormal standard" can also differ from what children or their parents consider as "necessaryand normal standard".So the definition is determinedto whomyou ask.The benefit of a definition builton public opinion is its empirical base and a democratic legitimacy.A disadvantage of suchalist is that it gives a limited measure on life conditions.It is also difficult to decide whenchildren are looked upon as deprived of good things.Is it depending on the reasonwhy a child does not have access to the good things if it should be counted as poor (economicreason?) 11 ?Another way of measuring poverty is to ask people about how they look upon their ownsituation.The informants themselves declare if they look upon themselves as poor or close tothe limit of poverty.In the Norwegian researches it is showed that the percentage of people declaring themselves as poor exceeded the numbers compared to other measures as need-assessedbenefits, or 60% of the median income.The experience of feelingpoor seems to exceed the objective measures 12 .
Questions to children on their view and experience of poverty can be used to get a deeperunderstanding of what poverty means to children.In the Nordic context it does not seem to be used very often.In one report from Greenland13 children were interviewed and they described a scarcity of basic goods as food and housing.Children described they went hungry to bed and could not afford food in the school.Dwellings with low standard, not isolating from the arctic cold were also described.Lack of money meant they could not take part in leisure time activities and there were also children describing themselves being bullied as they could not afford what their class-mates could.When speaking about consequences of poverty they also talked about feelings of exclusion and shame.The wishes children expressed pointed at different life conditions.In the city the wishes were individual consumption as mobile phones and bicycles, while youngsters in the small villages wished premises for youth clubs and fellowship.

Child poverty -a summary
Summing up the researches in the Nordic countries we can see that child poverty exists on different levels and there is a tendency that the gap between rich and poor are growing.Child poverty affects different social groups in the society.Parent's employment is important and unemployment hampers the chance to leave poverty behind.In Finland14 is poverty in many families a temporary phase connected to the position on the labor market.More than 70% of the mothers with children 0-2 years oldstayed at home with child-allowance and short-time jobs.When children are three years old, the child-allowance come to an end and the mothers start working and the economy get better.Single mothers better their income when the child starts school.Employment plays animportant role for the economy, but not enough to eliminate child poverty when parents are low-paid workers.
The most vulnerable social groups in the Nordic countries were: • Children with immigrant background, but in Greenland it is a higher risk if both parents are born in Greenland.
• Children to single parents and especially children to a single immigrant parent • Children in poor districts in the big cities, where there also are a high degree ofimmigrant families • Children in the poorest municipalities, especially in Greenland where poverty is widely spread in the remote areas • Families with many children and in Greenland it is also families with parents below 25 years of age • Children with low-educated parents • Children to parents with social problems as abuse of drugs and alcohol It is evident that different definitions of poverty result in various measures and also different numbers of children in poverty.Most definitions are pointing at scarcity of economic means.To get a realistic picture of child poverty it issignificantto relate economic scarcity to the standard of living, costs and social benefits in the country.It is also evident that poverty is of importance for the whole life situation of children and economic poverty is related to problems with housing, health, social relations, psychical well-being, and being able to influence the own situation.Child poverty is both a structural and individual problem and individual families have different abilities to manage their situation.Building on children´s rights when examining poverty gives a comprehensivepicture with different dimensions.
Shortage of external resources is reflected in the level of well-being.In the studiesof subjective poverty children were describing consequences of poverty as scarcity of food and housing.But also social relations were affected and children talked about bullying in schools because of old cloths and not being able to afford what is looked upon as normal among children of the same age.Children said they felt ashamed even if they could not influence the situation.By researching subjective poverty of children you get help to deepen the understanding of their experiences.
Definitions of child poverty mirror the interests of different groups as politicians, researchers, non-governmental organizations and users themselves.The chosen definition(s)when investigating child poverty reflect the power relations in the society.A combination of different measures facilitates a versatilepicture.
Studiesin the Nordic countries point at a tendency that poverty in childhood increases the risk to be a poor grown-up, which is a good argument for interventions at an early stage.
Table1.Relative Child Poverty in some countries with income less than 50% respectively 6 of median income in the country year 2007.Source: Luxembourg Income Study,