Glossary:Child deprivation

Child deprivation is measured in two different ways:

Annually: via the "severe material and social deprivation" rate;
Every three years: via the indicator "child-specific material deprivation".

Severe material and social deprivation rate

Annually, child deprivation is computed through the general EU-SILC indicator "severe material and social deprivation". The severe material and social deprivation rate (SMSD) is an EU-SILC indicator that shows an enforced lack of necessary and desirable items to lead an adequate life. It distinguishes between individuals who cannot afford certain goods, services or social activities. It is defined as the proportion of the population experiencing an enforced lack of at least 7 out of 13 deprivation items (6 related to the individual and 7 related to the household). The SMSD indicator is part of the at-risk-of-poverty-and social exclusion (AROPE) indicator used to monitor the EU 2030 target on poverty and social exclusion.

Seven out of the 13 deprivation items included in SMSD indicator are collected at the household level and apply equally to all household members. The remaining six items are only collected for people aged 16 or over and have therefore to be estimated for children below 16. The rule applied for this estimation is the following: “if at least half the number of adults for which the information is available in the household lack an item, then the children living in that household are considered as deprived from that item”. The same set of 13 items and the same threshold are used for both children and adults. However, when computing deprivation for children, a lower weight is given to adult items, in order to avoid making the indicator for children too sensitive to adult deprivations; among the deprivations required to be considered as deprived, at least three need to be household deprivations (out of the seven household deprivations items included in the list). Hence, when the 13-item indicator is broken down for children, it provides information on the proportion of children living in a “deprivation context”. It should be clearly mentioned that these children live in (socially and materially) deprived households.

List of items at household level:

Capacity to face unexpected expenses
Capacity to afford paying for one week annual holiday away from home
Capacity to being confronted with payment arrears (on mortgage or rental payments, utility bills, hire purchase instalments or other loan payments)
Capacity to afford a meal with meat, chicken, fish or vegetarian equivalent every second day
Ability to keep home adequately warm
Have access to a car/van for personal use
Replacing worn-out furniture

List of items at individual level:

Having internet connection
Replacing worn-out clothes by some new ones
Having two pairs of properly fitting shoes (including a pair of all-weather shoes)
Spending a small amount of money each week on him/herself
Having regular leisure activities
Getting together with friends/family for a drink/meal at least once a month

Child specific material deprivation

This specific indicator is computed every three years, using the data collected through the EU-SILC three-yearly module on 'children' collected for the first time in 2021. It allows computing material deprivation indicators specific to children (aged less than 16 years) and complements the annual information used to compute the AROPE indicator and its three components including the material and social deprivation indicator as explained above.

In total, 17 items are used to calculate every three years the child material deprivation. In this case, a child is considered as deprived if they suffer from an enforced lack of at least three items out of the 17 (unweighted) items. The indicator child specific material deprivation is based on the following lists of items:

1) Twelve child specific material deprivation items collected in the three yearly set of variables:

Some new (not second-hand) clothes
Two pairs of properly fitting shoes (including a pair of all-weather shoes)
Fruits and vegetables once a day
One meal with meat, chicken or fish (or vegetarian equivalent) at least once a day
Books at home suitable for their age
Outdoor leisure equipment
Indoor games
Regular leisure activities
Celebrations on special occasions
Invite friends round to play or eat from time to time
Participate in school trips and school events that cost money
Go on holiday away from home at least one week per year

2) Four household variables collected annually:

Replacing worn-out furniture
Capacity to being confronted with payment arrears (on mortgage or rental payments, utility bills, hire purchase instalments or other loan payments)
Ability to keep home adequately warm
Have access to a car/van for personal use

3) One material deprivation variable collected annually at individual level for adults in the household:

Having internet connection

Related concepts

Publications

Children - material deprivation

Statistical data

Source

DG Employment, social affairs and inclusion