Some 220,000 children were living in poverty in Sweden in 2008, and the figure is rising, says the new Save the Children report on child poverty. This report, which is the eighth annual update from the organisation addressing the issue of child poverty, urges Sweden to meet its obligations enshrined in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).
The study shows that the proportion of children in Sweden living in low-income households increased from 11,5 to 13,0 percent between 2008 and 2009 (up from 10.9% in 2007). The incidence of child poverty varies across the country, and figures reveal that the risk of child poverty is higher for children in families with foreign background (two foreign-born parents) and children in single parent families, and highest for children with an immigrant background and a single parent. Child poverty is also related to segregation between different parts of the major cities, where both the richest and poorest districts can be found. Child poverty was generally higher in Sweden's major cities and lowest in wealthy suburbs, the report concludes.
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.