Child poverty trends in Europe and Central Asia
Fully eradicating child poverty remains a challenge, particularly for those living in the remaining hard-to-reach pockets of deprivation
Looking at child poverty across regions is useful for making comparisons, but it can mask important differences sub-regionally or between countries.1 The Europe and Central Asia (ECA) region spans 6,500 kilometers from east to west and includes countries ranging from Luxembourg, with a GDP per capita of $137,517 to Tajikistan, with a GDP per capita of $1,341.2,3 Child poverty figures are similarly varied, reflecting the region’s diversity in geography, economic growth, demographics, and the positioning of poverty reduction as a political and budget priority.
Using the $8.30/day (2011 PPP) line as a benchmark, the ECA region as a whole saw an almost 50 per cent decline in the child poverty rate (from 18.8 to 10.2) in the 2014-2024 period, with overall declines in all subregions during the observed period. Still, a nuanced look depicts both success and stagnation. The EU Member States, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, and Switzerland, together home to over half of the region’s population, showed a consistent decline in child poverty, from 6.5 per cent in 2014 to 2.6 per cent in 2024. Child poverty reduction, by both monetary and multidimensional measures, is an explicit policy priority of the EU, epitomized by the adoption of the European Child Guarantee (ECG) in 2021 and continuing with debate around the EU’s first Anti-Poverty Strategy, which is currently undergoing public consultations. While child poverty rates in the subregion remain well below global averages and reflect the strength of member states’ investments in social protection and services for children, the ECG and momentum for an Anti-Poverty Strategy recognize the difficulty of the ‘last mile’ of poverty reduction and the need for comprehensive and coordinated policy responses.
In the Western Balkans and non-EU Eastern Europe, child poverty is also trending downward, from 21.7 per cent in 2014 to 8.4 per cent in 2024. This decline is led by strong growth in the economies, and the important reduction in poverty registered in Türkiye – the most populous country in the subregion. While the subregion’s poverty reduction was slow in the years prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, child poverty dropped from about 19 per cent to 8.4 per cent between 2019-2024. Several countries in the subregion have made clear investments in child poverty reduction as a policy priority, introducing or expanding child grants (e.g., Kosovo4,5, Montenegro6) or seeking to align policies and investments with the European Child Guarantee (e.g., Albania7), but the subregion’s comparatively low labour market participation rates, unfavorable demographics, and exposure to natural hazards remain a challenge to progress.8
The Caucasus present a complex picture, with child poverty increasing slightly between 2014 and 2020 before declining more strongly through 2024. Overall, poverty in the subregion declined by 4.4 percentage points over the 10 years, reaching 22.3 per cent in 2024. Georgia achieved a particularly strong reduction in child poverty, with a 19.7 per cent decline between 2014-2023. Despite this impressive progress, child poverty in Georgia still impacts the lives of 61.4 per cent of the country’s children. Child poverty remains substantial in Armenia too: in 2023 about 7 in 10 children are estimated to be residing in poor households.
As with the Caucasus, the picture in Central Asia is mixed, with some positive indicators of declining child poverty, but an overall picture of very high poverty and the need for much greater progress to come close to national or global poverty targets. Regular collection of child poverty data remains a challenge. Estimates from Tajikistan and Uzbekistan reflect mostly projections based on the cumulative real GDP per capita growth of 62 per cent and 46 per cent between 2014 and 2024, respectively. Estimates using the most recent surveys available show for Tajikistan a 76.4 per cent child poverty rate in 2015 while Uzbekistan had a 39 per cent rate in 2022.9 There are worrying signs of declining social protection coverage10 in parts of the subregion, and the exposure to extreme climate events, including heat waves and associated impacts, is likely to be a key part of the poverty reduction story in the years and decades ahead11.
The story of gains on child poverty reduction in Europe and Central Asia is varied. Even among countries with similar income levels, child poverty rates and reductions differ. Fully eradicating child poverty remains a challenge, particularly for those living in the remaining hard-to-reach pockets of deprivation. Furthermore, it is important to collect detailed national data on child poverty regularly and use this information to guide investments and policies. Child poverty reduction in ECA, though favourable when compared to the global picture, remains unfinished, with substantial investment – political and financial – still needed to break the cycle of poverty for all children.
This brief draws largely from the results in “Children in Monetary Poor Households: Global, Regional, and Select National Trends in the Progress against Child Poverty” (Lara Ibarra et al. 2025).
[1] We use the term child poverty to refer to the share of children that are living in monetary poor households. This rate, based on an estimate of households’ income per capita does not take into account intra-household distribution of resources.
[2] World Bank. Databank: Luxembourg. 2024. https://data.worldbank.org/country/luxembourg
[3] World Bank. Databank: Tajikistan. 2024. https://data.worldbank.org/country/tajikistan
[4] All references to Kosovo should be understood within the context of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1244 (1999).
[5] Kosovo* introduced a universal child benefit in 2021, providing EUR 20 monthly for children 0-2 and EUR 10 monthly for children 3-16. For more information, see Hohmann, J., Giske, N., and Boillot, F. (2025), Improving social protection in the Western Balkans: Analysis of regional/national situations, and recommendations, Knowledge Hub on Health, Inequalities, and Social Protection to the European Commission (HISP), Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg, doi:10.2876/9943620. https://op.europa.eu/en/publication-detail/-/publication/71bc159e-533c-11f0-a9d0-01aa75ed71a1/language-en
[6] Montenegro introduce a q-UCB for children 0-6 in June of 2021, expanding the benefit to all children 0-18 as of November 2022. For more information, see Annex 2 (Montenegro: Progressive realization of a UCB), ILO and UNICEF. 2023. More than a billion reasons: The urgent need to build universal social protection for children. Second ILO–UNICEF Joint Report on Social Protection for Children. Geneva and New York. https://www.unicef.org/media/135211/file/more%20than%20a%20billion%20reasons:%20the%20urgent%20need%20to%20build%20universal%20social%20protection.pdf
[7] Albania has committed to conduct a deep dive analysis on child poverty and prepare a Plan of Action for the European Child Guarantee as part of its National Strategy on Social Protection 2024-2030. (https://shendetesia.gov.al/strategjia-kombetare-e-mbrojtjes-sociale-2024-2030-kociu-fuqizim-i-familjes-drejt-tregut-te-punes-sherbime-te-reja-edhe-ne-zonat-e-thella-rurale/). As of 1 July 2025, it has officially launched the process of drafting its National Action Plan on the European Child Guarantee (https://www.crca.al/en/albania-starts-the-preparation-of-the-european-child-guarantee/ ).
[8] Brodmann, S., Coll-Black S., and von Lenthe, C. (2023). Advancing Social Protection in the Western Balkans: Opportunities for Reform. Washington DC: World Bank. https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/099051023035542858/pdf/P17623002691fc0cd0b5380c99a9264fd90.pdf
[9] The projections used data available in the World Bank Poverty and Inequality Platform in June 2025. A new report (CERR and UNICEF 2025, forthcoming) on child poverty in Uzbekistan uses the national poverty line (UZS 669,000, or approximately USD 54, per capita per month in 2024) and shows a steep decline in child poverty between 2021-2024 (21.5% to 11.4%). While the national poverty line is significantly lower than the international poverty line, this decline indicates considerable recent progress in poverty reduction.
[10] Overall coverage of child benefits in Uzbekistan was reduced from 15.7% to 8.3% between 2023 and 2024. Diydor Berdiklichev and Ikuko Uochi. Poverty in Uzbekistan: figures, trends and challenges. Gazeta. 25 August 2025. https://www.gazeta.uz/en/2025/08/25/poverty/
[11] World Bank. 2025. Unlivable. How Cities in Europe and Central Asia Can Survive ‒ and Thrive ‒ in a Hotter Future. © World Bank.
