FLORENCE/SYDNEY – Economic inequality in wealthy countries is linked to worse physical health and poorer academic outcomes among children, according to an analysis published today by UNICEF Office of Strategy and Evidence – Innocenti.
Report Card 20: Unequal Chances – Children and economic inequality examines the relationship between economic inequalities and children’s wellbeing in 44 OECD and high-income countries and finds that, in most of these countries, rates of income inequality and child poverty remain stubbornly high.
Among the countries with comparable data in the report, Australia ranks in the bottom half of the league table at 28 out of 40 for income inequality, with the top fifth of earners bringing in over five times the income of the bottom 20 per cent.
“Inequality profoundly affects how children learn, what they eat, and how they feel about life,” said UNICEF Innocenti Director Bo Viktor Nylund. “To limit the worst impacts of inequality, we need urgently to invest more in the health, nutrition and education of children in the most deprived communities.”
There is a clear relationship between higher levels of economic inequality and children’s health, according to the report.
Children growing up in the most unequal countries are 1.7 times more likely to be overweight than those in the most equal countries, which may reflect poorer quality diets and missed meals.
More than one in three children in Australia are overweight (36 per cent), the sixth highest rate globally.
The report draws a link between economic inequality and educational performance. It notes that countries with wider gaps between rich and poor tend to have lower academic test scores overall. In Australia nearly 40 per cent of children leave school without basic proficiency in reading and mathematics.
These inequalities between countries are replicated within countries, with wide gaps in the test scores of children from the wealthiest and poorest families within individual countries. On average, 83 per cent of 15-year-olds in families among the top fifth of earners have basic proficiency in mathematics and reading compared to 42 per cent in the bottom fifth.
Among the countries with comparable data in the report, Australia ranks 11 out of 41 for the size of the gap in basic proficiency in mathematics and reading between children from the richest and poorest families: 85 per cent of children from the economic top fifth of families have basic proficiency in mathematics and reading compared with 50 per cent of children in the bottom fifth.
The report calls on governments and stakeholders to take action in several policy areas to minimise the impact of inequality on children’s well-being, in particular by reducing child poverty.
UNICEF Australia’s Head of Policy and Advocacy John Livingstone said we need to do more to flatten the difference between the richest and the poorest in our society.
“Australia rightly values equality and fairness, but this report shows that opportunity is not shared evenly across our community. Inequality is stubbornly high in Australia, and that matters for children.
“When inequality is widespread it harms every aspect of a child’s life, increasing stress and loneliness, limiting access to healthy diets and reducing the time children have for homework and learning. There is clear scope to do better as reducing inequality is critical to improving outcomes for all children.”