Hungary’s child poverty rate is among the highest across 29 countries in Europe, a report by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has found. About 30 per cent lack items such as three meals a day, a quiet place to do homework and educational books at home. UNICEF says ten per cent of Hungarian children live below the poverty line, that is, in families living on below 50 per cent of median income.
The report examines child deprivation across the European Union and the world’s advanced industrial economies. The survey is based on a list of 14 items essential for a child’s well-being and on household income.
The deprivation index positions Hungary, along with Bulgaria and Romania, at the bottom of the chart. Szilvia Gyurkó, from UNICEF Hungary, said it is a real issue bearing in mind the money Hungary has spent fighting child poverty, “as much as, for instance, Denmark”. The whole situation in the country has to change, Gyurkó said.
“Particularly striking”, UNICEF says, is that countries with similar economies have very different child deprivation rates: Denmark and Sweden, for instance, have much lower rates than Belgium or Germany.
Some 13 million children in the EU plus Norway and Iceland lack basic items necessary for their development. Thirty million children across 35 countries with developed economies live in poverty.
