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One in five Brussels children live in poverty
An estimated 21% of children in Brussels are living in poverty, according to a study conducted at the request of the King Baudouin Foundation (KBF).
The figure for the capital is higher than in Wallonia, where 17.3% of children are experiencing poverty and Flanders, where the figure is 8.5%.
“Recent data regarding child poverty confirms the persistence of daily difficulties for many children in our country,” KBF said in its findings, noting that a child is considered to be living in poverty when they lack at least three of the 17 elements considered as essential by the EU to their healthy and well-balanced development.
“With such a high proportion [12.8% overall for the country], Belgium does not fare well in the EU ranking”, the organisation said.
The essential elements include healthy food, a healthy living environment, a household without debt and access to leisure activities.
Apart from stark differences by region, the study also found that children who live exclusively or principally with only their mother are four times more likely to be impoverished.
Although child poverty has fallen significantly across the EU since 2014, the decline is much more limited in Belgium.
Additionally, some member states with overall lower levels of prosperity - such as Slovenia, Estonia and Croatia - boast lower levels of childhood poverty than wealthier countries.
The study also proved a link between poverty and health problems: an impoverished child is three times more at risk of not being healthy.
“Child poverty is and remains a worrying reality, but it is not inevitable,” KBF said.
“Deploying and strengthening targeted policies is a powerful lever to break the vicious cycle of poverty. In this respect, the study offers several keys for better understanding that can be useful for policymakers who want to take effective structural measures to combat child poverty.”
To that end, the research will be presented to around 100 policymakers this week.
Comments
This is exactly what I have been writing about for a long long time:
Our (very well paid, by us) politicians, are far too busy narrowing our already paid for (by us again) streets, changing speed limits with practically zero evidence of any improvement, trying to impose on us dangerous digital IDs as if we are still in the the epoch of the Wild West with any identification, trying to impose on us undemocratic programmable money though the European Central Bank, namely the CBDC (Central Bank Digital Currency) as if we live on another planet without any useful and practical currency such as the euro in electronic and cash forms, etc etc etc .
Instead of working on all the above useless, undemocratic, privacy destroying, safety endangering, problem creating politics, they OUGHT TO be working on making sure that no child goes to bed hungry, molested, beaten or hopeless!
These children:
1. Live in the "capital" of technologically-advanced, culturally-progressive, democratically-run, countless-billions-quantitative-easing-cash-give-away Europe!
2. Live during our Mars-roaming, within-3-months-mRNA-producing, marvelous-AI, 21st century Europe!
But still, one in five is lives every single day of their lives in POVERTY.
This is NOT a failure of the system,
it is NOT an ineptitude of scientists,
this is a Capital offence on the part of our elected officials and our tax-free and extremely well-paid-for-life (and then in pension), un-elected but pan-european decision making bureaucrats, of the European Institutions such as the European Commission etc.