New report on child poverty

No increase in child poverty in Sweden. That is the conclusion in a new report written by Carina Mood and Jan O. Jonsson; Ekonomisk utsatthet och välfärd bland barn och deras familjer 1968–2010, where children themselves also have their say about their financial situation.

The report is based on several nationally representative data set, including children's own reports of financial problems and material standards. It shows that poverty among families with children, is historically low today according to most definitions, extremely low by international standards. Swedish families' finances have improved since the late 1960s, especially since the recession in the mid-1990s. The global recession that began in 2008 has had no noticeable impact on child poverty in Sweden.

However, the income gap between families with children has increased significantly since 2006, and poverty is increasingly concentrated to children whose parents are not working.

– Inequality in income among families with children has increased over a longer period of time, but earlier we could also see that many people got higher incomes which lifted them from the absolute level of poverty, says Jan O. Jonsson, professor of sociology. Now we have a situation where inequality increases while poor families' economy does not improve.

The report is one of several background reports to the report Children's and young people's health and health care published by Socialstyrelsen (The National Board of Health and Welfare).