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Folia Geographica 2016, 58/1, pp. 56-71

DETSKÁ CHUDOBA NA SLOVENSKU V KONTEXTE KRAJÍN EURÓPSKEJ ÚNIE

CHILDREN POVERTY IN SLOVAKIA IN THE CONTEXT OF EUROPEAN UNION MEMBER STATES

Alena ROCHOVSKÁ A*, Jozef ANTOŠ B, Ivana MAŽGÚTOVÁ C

Received: November 15, 2016 | Revised: November 22, 2016 | Accepted: December 2, 2016

A* Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia
rochovska@fms.uniba.sk (corresponding author)

B Comenius University in Bratislava, Slovakia
antos@fms.uniba.sk

C FERRING Slovakia, s. r. o., Slovakia
ivana.mazgutova@gmail.com

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Abstract
The risk of child poverty in the European Union reaches over 20 %. More than a quarter of children suffer from poverty in some countries, but in most countries, children are at greater risk of poverty than the total population. Child poverty is related to household members’ participation in the labor market and the total household income; the poverty risk rate is also affected by the number of children. On the other hand, the state has the opportunity to intervene to a large extent in the issues of poverty within the state policy framework. The main objective of this paper is to analyse the extent and development of child poverty in the European Union in the period 2005–2012 through selected indicators of income poverty measurement and assess the position of the Slovak Republic within EU member states.

Key words
Poverty, children, risk of poverty, Slovakia, EU

SUMMARY

CHILDREN POVERTY IN SLOVAKIA IN THE CONTEXT OF EUROPEAN UNION MEMBER STATES

Poverty is a global problem faced by not only developing but also the most developed countries of the world. Poverty in Slovakia (as in other transitive societies) has been much more visible after 1989 as a result of wide economic and social reforms. An official poverty line set by the European Union is 60% of the median equivalent income. Poverty is considered a far more serious phenomenon, as far as children are concerned. Children are the most vulnerable category threatened by poverty. Child poverty is the share of children living in households with income below the poverty line, where children are considered as persons under the age of 18 years. Throughout the European Union one in five children are at risk of poverty, but the situation in each country is specific. In each country it depends either on the labor market situation in the country or region (this can affect the level of employment and wages), followed by the household situation (its structure, size, educational and employment status of parents), but the great role is played by the impact of the state which has the possibility to affect the risk of poverty through social policy transfers to households with children. Risk of poverty rate of children in the EU has for a long time been around the 20%, which is by four percentage points higher than the poverty rate of the total population. In different countries this may vary between lower than 10 % (Finland, Denmark) and higher than 30% (Romania). In Slovakia, the rate of risk of children poverty was 22% in 2012. These differences may result from long-term economic development of the countries, but especially from different approaches to solve the problems of child poverty through social policy. Any deterioration of the economic situation in the country automatically increases the risk of child poverty rate. This may rapidly worsen in times of crisis when the state does not use a sufficient amount of effective social policy instruments towards families with children to alleviate the problems. Greece can be used as an example of a country, where the severe economic crisis and especially government austerity measures that have affected families with children (increasing unemployment, reducing average wages, reducing social transfers directed to families with children) caused that the already high proportion of poor children even increased to almost 30% in 2013. In general, the situation is much less favorable in southern European countries such as Italy, Greece, Spain, Portugal, followed by Bulgaria and Romania. On the contrary, countries of northern Europe have constantly strong position with lowest rates of child poverty. Except Denmark, Norway or Finland, the group of European countries with low child poverty also includes Cyprus and Slovenia. In countries that are successful in the fight against child poverty it is important to mention the high employment rate of women, a great ability to reconcile work with personal life, as well as large amount of public finances directed to families with children, for example the provision of childcare facilities at the time of parents‘ work. Nevertheless, in each Member State the poverty rate increases with the number of children in the household and among the most vulnerable belong households with three or more dependent children. Single parent households with dependent children are exposed to much higher risk of child poverty, too.

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