Any experience of childhood poverty affects life chances, but longer exposure is particularly detrimental to education, health, and future earnings. This study by University of Oxford examines trends in long-term childhood poverty in Britain.
Any experience of childhood poverty affects life chances, but longer exposure is particularly detrimental to education, health, and future earnings.
This study examines trends in long-term childhood poverty in Britain. Using a life-course perspective, researchers tracked poverty from birth to age ten among 1991–2017 birth cohorts. Findings show that, on average, 17% of children spent at least half of their childhood in poverty. Long-term poverty affected 25% of those born in the early 1990s, markedly declined to 13–14% for cohorts born after the post-1997 welfare reforms, and rose again to 23% for children born following the 2013 austerity reforms.