TABLE 1.

Policy-relevant conclusions from a league table of child poverty in rich nations, with added comments by the author relevant to Canada in parentheses

Child poverty rates in the world’s wealthiest nations vary from under 3% to over 25% (Canada’s rate was 15.5%) Whether measured by relative or absolute poverty, the top six places in the child poverty league are occupied by the same six nations – all of which combine a high degree of economic development with a reasonable degree of equity (Canada ranked 17th of 23 in relative poverty and ranked 7th of 19 in absolute poverty) There is a close relationship between child poverty rates and the percentage of full-time workers who earn less than two-thirds of the national median wage (Canada ranked 13th of 14 nations having the second highest percentage of low-wage workers [23%]) The countries with the lowest child poverty rates allocate the highest proportions of GNP to social expenditures (Canada ranked 13th of 22 nations on social expenditures) Differences in tax and social expenditure policies mean that some nations reduce ‘market child poverty’ by as much as 20 percentage points and others by as little as 5 percentage points (Canada reduced market child poverty by 9.1 percentage points from 24.6% to 15.5%)

Adapted from reference 23. GNP Gross national product