Children at high risk as EU moves further away from achieving poverty reduction target

Date: 9th October 2018
Category: Child poverty, Disability, Basic Health and Welfare

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A new report published by Eurostat on poverty reduction targets reveals that more than one in four children in the EU are at risk of poverty or social exclusion.

For these 25 million children, Eurochild highlight that “experiencing poverty in childhood is likely to severely impact their chances later in life, and can lead to a cycle of disadvantage. It is urgent that the EU puts poverty reduction higher on its political agenda and that investing in children, including policies to support children in vulnerable situations are given serious attention across the EU”. 

Eurostat has released statistics on the five key areas agreed by EU countries as part of the Europe 2020 strategy for “smart, sustainable and inclusive growth”. The strategy is aimed towards achieving high levels of employment, productivity and social cohesion across Member States by 2020. Under its poverty reduction target, the EU aims to lift 20 million people out of the risk of poverty or social exclusion by 2020 by ensuring that “that the benefits of growth and jobs are widely shared and people experiencing poverty and social exclusion are enabled to live in dignity and take an active part in society”.

Eurochild have noted that the latest statistics from Eurostat show that the EU is further away from reaching this target than it was 10 years ago. 

• Eurochild monitors EU recommendations on national economic and social policies and assesses their potential impact on children. Read Eurochild’s 2017 report here.
• View Eurostat’s latest statistics, by country, on their website.