Family Poverty in the Nordic Countries

The traditional egalitarian Nordic welfare states, Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden, have all adopted the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs). Through goal no. 1, they have committed to reducing the proportion of children living in poverty by half by 2030. But in the Nordic countries, they are going in the opposite direction: the number of children growing up in a family with persistently low income has increased.

Although many political measures have been put in place and strategies developed, there is a long way in order to reverse this negative development.