Time.news – There are 19.6 million children at risk of poverty and social exclusion in Europe due to the effects of the pandemic and the crisis and Italy is the fifth worst country after Romania, Spain, Bulgaria and Greece, with two million 851 thousand children at risk (29.7%).
This is what emerges from the European report “Securing the Future of Children” by Save The Children. Our country is also among the worst for early school leaving and the highest number of NEETs. In the European report to take stock of the implementation of the EU Child Guarantee program launched in 2021 to ensure access of children at risk to early childhood education, healthcare, adequate housing and healthy nutrition, the Organization asks the Italian Government concrete objectives and certain funds for the National Implementation Plan of the Guarantee in Italy.
Despite Europe being one of the wealthiest regions in the world, the number of girls, boys and families living in conditions of poverty and social exclusion is alarmingly increasing, due to the cost of living, the climate crisis and the consequences of the pandemic Covid. In just one year over 200,000 children in addition they have been pushed to the brink of poverty, bringing the total number of children at risk of poverty to over 19.6 million in 2021, 1 in 4 children.
Italy is among the European countries with the highest percentage of children at risk of poverty and social exclusion, which grew from 27.1% in 2019 to 29.7% in 2021, and ranks fifth by severity after Romania (41.5%), Spain (33.4%), Bulgaria (33%) and Greece (32%)and well above the EU-27 average (24.4%), and with more than 16 percentage points more than Iceland (13.1%) and Finland (13.2%) which record the lowest percentages.
The report takes into consideration the different dimensions of child poverty in 14 EU countries, to take stock of the application in individual countries, including Italy, of the Child Guarantee program established in 2021 by the EU Council with the goal of breaking the intergenerational cycle of disadvantage by guaranteeing access for children at risk of poverty and social exclusion to early childhood education services, health care, adequate housing and healthy nutrition. The program also includes specific measures for the most vulnerable groups such as children with disabilities, those of foreign origin and refugees, those outside the family of origin or those belonging to minorities.
If Romania is the country that arouses the greatest concern for the future of children, given that in 2022 40% of families suffered a decrease in their income while expenses practically doubled (+98%), Italy already stood out in 2021 for the sad record reached of almost 1 million and 400 thousand children affected by absolute poverty (14.2% on average and 16.1% in the South). The surge in inflation in 2022 further worsened the situation because it hit less well-off families more markedly (12.1%) than those with greater spending power (7.2%).
Italy is also notable for the greater impact of poverty on children with a migrant background, refugees, asylum seekers, undocumented and unaccompanied children, a gap present in many European countries, but which in Italy has pushed up to 32.4% of migrants to live in conditions of poverty (7.2% the percentage of Italian citizens who find themselves in the same condition).
“The Child Guarantee is a great opportunity because it arises from a strong joint political momentum of European countries to protect the future of boys and girls before it is too late. The data in this report are emergency photography which grows visibly and which we touch with our hands every day in our field work in Italy and in other countries. The most vulnerable families are forced to face very serious difficulties and even in an advanced region of the world such as Europe millions of children cannot afford a hot and nutritious meal every day, live in overcrowded houses, cold or with structural problems, grow up in daily uncertainty because their parents are unable to support the needs of the family. Children who cannot access all the opportunities that school offers, starting from early childhood, or who cannot participate in sports or other types of educational and cultural activities on a par with their peers, thus widening the gap and increasing educational poverty,” said Raffaela Milano, Director of Save the Children’s Italy-Europe Programs. The commitment to reduce the risk of poverty and social exclusion of minors in Italy is played out on several fronts, starting with that of education.
Already in early childhood, only 13.7% of children access public nurseries and nurseries, full-time is guaranteed only to 38.1% of primary school students and early school leaving engulfs more than 1 adolescent out of 7 (12, 7%), a percentage second in Europe, also in this case, only to that of Romania (15.3%) and Spain (13.3%), while the number of NEETs (15-29 year olds out of work, education or training) reaches 23.1% and is the highest among EU countries (average 13.1%), scoring almost 10 points more than Spain (14.1%) and Poland (13.4%), and more than double if Germany and France are considered (9.2%).
On the other fronts, in Italy, food poverty affects 1 in 20 children, while access to the school canteen, which for some would be the only daily chance for a balanced and proteinic meal, is limited to just over 1 in 2 children in primary school, one in 4 children never practice sports (3-17 years), and, with the pandemic, overweight or obese children between the ages of 3 and 10 increased from 32.6% (2018-19) to 34.5% (2020-21). Housing deprivation also affects the well-being and health of more than half (55.7%) of minors in relative poverty in our country, forced to live in overcrowded houses, and the incidence of energy poverty reached 9.3 in 2021 % among families with minors.