Poverty in households with children is rising in nearly all Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries. Governments should ensure that family support policies protect the most vulnerable, according to the OECD’s first-ever report on family well-being.
Doing Better for Families says that families with children are more likely to be poor today than in previous decades, when the poorest in society were more likely to be pensioners. The share of children living in poor households has risen in many countries over the past decade, to reach 12.7% across the OECD.
Before the financial crisis, and during a period of increased investment (1995 to 2005), child poverty in the UK fell more than in any other OECD country; in the same period the growth in average family income was third highest in the OECD. Progress in child poverty reduction in the UK has stalled, and is now predicted to increase, and so social protection spending on families – particularly via family service provisions, as a longer-term solution to poverty risks – needs to be protected.
The report also documents how families across the OECD have changed dramatically in just a generation. With fertility rates dropping from 2.2 children per woman to 1.7 over the past three decades, families are getting smaller. Fewer people are getting married and among those that are, divorce rates are rising.
