Barns ekonomiska utsatthet i Sverige. Årsrapport 2012:2

Save the Children Sweden’s tenth report (2012:2) on child poverty in Sweden comes shortly after the release of the Annual Report for 2012, which reflects the vulnerable financial situation of children and their families in Sweden up to the year 2009. According to this new report, which is based on statistics from 2010, 242 000 economically disadvantaged children lived in Sweden in 2010, a reduction of 0,3% in comparison with 2009 (248 000). There are still noticeable differences in child poverty rates, depending on what part of the country you live in, if the child lives with a single parent or in a two parent home, or if their parents are from Sweden or have a foreign background. It is also proven that if children grow up under these circumstances there may be a higher risk of poor health, being the victim of violence or dropping out of the school system without the skills that equip them for life. The report shows that the number of poor households with children has currently decreased, but in a country where most families with children are well off, too many children are still not afforded an adequate standard of living.
Child poverty is defined on an index combining two factors – low levels of relative income or living with income support (a guaranteed minimum level established by the Swedish Parliament in 1998). Save the Children has aimed to raise awareness of child poverty in Sweden since releasing its first report on the issue in 2002 and calls for a national action plan to combat the growing incidence of child poverty. The studies on child poverty are a first step towards a child index, which would annually reflect changes in various aspects of children’s welfare at the municipal level.