Subject: Rise in child poverty
The European Child Guarantee is an important step in the fight against child poverty and social exclusion in Europe.
However, in its latest report, published on 8 June 2023, the Fundamental Rights Agency points out that the number of children living in poverty in the European Union has increased. Prior to 2020 child poverty was falling, but the trend was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, with the share of children at risk of poverty or social exclusion rising from 22.8% in 2019 to 24% in 2020 and to 24.4% in 2021. The war in Ukraine and the resulting mass migration, particularly of women with children, rising energy prices and inflation also contributed to an increase in poverty.
1. Is the Commission aware of the growing problem of child poverty, and what steps does it intend to take to tackle it?
2. In its resolutions, Parliament has repeatedly called for increased financial support under the European Child Guarantee. Does the Commission intend to take this into account when it draws up the next budget?
Submitted:9.6.2023
Answer given by Vice-President Šuica on behalf of the European Commission (14 July 2023)
The European Pillar of Social Rights Action Plan poverty reduction target entails a reduction of at least 15 million of the number of people at risk of poverty or social exclusion by 2030, of which at least 5 million should be children.
The Commission monitors child poverty developments in the EU, including within the European semester — child poverty is one of headline indicators of the Social Scoreboard.
The latest EU-SILC 2022 data point to an overall stability compared to 2021 in the poverty or social exclusion among children in the EU, which stands at 24.7%, which confirms that the social protection systems in Member States have largely cushioned the impact of the pandemic.
There are heterogeneous trends among the Member States: In nine Member States, a decrease (compared to 2021 data) by at least 1 percentage point has been recorded, while increases by less than 1 percentage point were recorded in six and significant increases (by more than 5 percentage points) were recorded in two Member States.
The European Social Fund Plus (ESF+) regulation obliges all Member States to allocate appropriate amount of ESF+ resources to targeted actions and structural reforms to address child poverty and support the implementation of the European Child Guarantee. For Member States with high levels of child poverty, this allocation should be at least 5%.
Together with the national co-financing, there are EUR 8.9 billion allocated to this end. EU Funding is also available through the European Regional Development Fund and the Recovery and Resilience Facility and assistance is provided via the Technical Support Instrument (total funding EUR 5.3 million).
In line with § 12 (e) of the European Child Guarantee Recommendation, Commission will review in 2026 the progress achieved in its implementation.