Child Poverty Study in Ukraine : Concept , Analysis of the Situation and Policies

1. Child Poverty Study in Ukraine: Concept, Analysis of the Situation and Policies Cherenko Liudmyla, Institute for Demography and Social Research

2. Key data on the population and economic development of Ukraine for 2007

3. Measuring poverty 2 official criteria for measuring poverty • National criterion – relative – 75% of the median level of gross equivalent expenditures, adopted in 2001 • Subsistence levelas a basis for setting state social guarantees for different socio-demographic groups – absolute criterion, in force since 2000

4. Measuring poverty at the Government level(as of 2006)

5. Families with many children and families with children under 3 are particularly vulnerable to poverty

6. Poverty in Ukraine in different dimensions: basic trends in 1999-2006

7. Poverty by living conditions is an acute problem for Ukraine • Some 70% of households with children live in houses or apartments where the total number of rooms is fewer than the number of household members, and 15 % live in conditions where there are more than 2 persons per room; • Almost every second household with children does not have simple utilities in their accommodation (gas and water supply, sewage system) • Deprivation by the most basic and important durable goods (refrigerator, colour TV set, washing machine) is 17.3 per cent for households with children; • Transport accessibility of schools, hospitals, social services etc. is the most acute problem for rural areas; • Overall low level of quality of education and medical services in rural areas

8. Conclusions of the situation analysis • Absolute poverty defined in terms of monetary approaches is constantly decreasing. However the indicator values for families with children visibly exceed average values and remain high. • The situation with relative poverty remains practically unchanged since 1999.At the same time the indicator values for families with children are constantly 2 times higher than the values for households without children. • Poverty by living conditions turns out to be especially acute problem for families with children as it reflects the limited access to quality social services.

9. Methodology of the Study The methodology is based on two approaches to defining poverty: • Monetary poverty (on the basis of incomes, expenditures or resources); • Poverty by opportunities or by living conditions

10. Methodology of the Study • Monetary povertyhas to be analysed on the basis of absolute and relative criteria (with due regard to the current situation analysis) • Assessment of poverty by living conditions has to embrace all components relevant to the country situation and all components relevant to children • The intersection of the two dimensions of poverty (monetary and by living conditions) will allow to define the core – the group of vulnerable children most at risk of poverty • The comparison of the scopes of different poverty manifestations among children and among the general population will allow to define the sources of children’s vulnerability.

11. Child Nutrition Health Education No targeted programmes at the national level –child nutrition is a component of general programmes; child nutrition programmes exist only at the local level. Free medical services for all categories of children (the programme is effective in general and the existing problems are linked to the need to reform the healthcare system) Compulsory secondary education (the programme is effective in general but there is a problem of unequal access to quality education by different groups of population) Key National Social Programmes for Children

12. Child Protection Social Protection Support to crisis families (there is a problem of assessing the quality and results of this service) «Money Follows the Child» (progressive system of Government support to orphaned children and children left without parental care; the implementation term is insufficient to assess the programme effectiveness) Support to low-income families (based on the principles of targeting specific population; at the moment the programme does not show high effectiveness – only 38% of the overall amount paid reaches the first three deciles) System of child allowances (at birth, for caring for children under 3, for single mothers, for children with special needs etc.) Key National Social Programmes for Children

13. Assessment of national policies on increasing child birth allowances in 2005-2006

14. Availability of information and methodological limitations • Key problem – lack of information on access to healthcare, education, recreation etc. services by different categories of children • Insufficient statistical information collected by line ministries – Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Family, Youth and Sport • Policy analysis methodology (for assessing social services, social protection and social policy in general) not sufficiently developed

15. Proposed potential solutions to information and methodological problems • Development and introduction of an additional module on children to the basic household living conditions survey of the SSCU • Application of the policy analysis methodology developed specifically for the Study by the Institute of Demography

16. Issues for discussion • What criteria are to be taken as basic for Ukraine when assessing absolute and relative monetary poverty; • What monetary criteria will be used for international comparisons • What aspects of poverty by living conditions are to be considered within comparisons with other countries • What national programmes are more important to analyse – short-term targeted programmes or long-term large-scale programmes