Faces of Child Poverty
in Ethiopia
Dr. Fitsum Assefa, Minister of National Planning and Development Commission recently stated that, ‘’ Ethiopia, as per the 10-year plan, is working to slash poverty by half and register a per capita GDP of 2,200 US Dollars and position the country among middle-income countries.”[1]
To pursue inclusive equity and guarantee that benefits are distributed among the population, it is crucial the country ensures that the gains achieved by high levels of economic growth trickle down to the most vulnerable segments of the society. Even more so in light of the negative health related and socio-economic impacts caused by COVID-19 which have affected both monetary and multidimensional child poverty levels.
Recent analyses implemented to assess the socio-economic impact of COVID-19 in Ethiopia conducted by the UN[2] and by UNICEF[3] highlights two potential channels through which the pandemic affects child poverty rates. First, contraction in the GDP may affect monetary poverty levels. Second, the pandemic may further hinder access or the quality of delivery of essential services to children (the lack of access to services is captured by the multidimensional child poverty). For example, temporary school closures may prevent children from adequately learning therefore compromising their development in the short run and their productivity in the long run when children will become adult and join the labour force. Access to health services could potentially be affected by the decline in health seeking behaviour due to fear of infection. And due to increase in unemployment, loss of income of families and high inflation rates, families are left with minimal income to meet the basic needs of their children exacerbating the situation of the most deprived families and pushing children into child labour.[4]
Despite the progress made, Ethiopia’s social welfare improvements for the most vulnerable groups have not been adequate with the rapid economic growth the country has been experiencing. Monetary child poverty in Ethiopia is still high but declining (from 35 per cent in 2000 to 29 per cent in 2016) and multidimensional child poverty has decreased at a very slow rate (from 90 per cent in 2011 to 88 per cent in 2016). For Ethiopia to achieve SDG 1.2 by 2030 which aims to reduce at least by half the proportion of children living in poverty in all its forms, Ethiopia needs to reduce the multi-dimensional poverty rate on average by 3-4 per cent each year over the next decade.
UNICEF and the Central Statistical Agency of Ethiopia with the technical support of the Economic Policy Research institute (EPRI) and the Social Policy Research Institute (SPRI) published in January 2021 an in-depth analysis of child poverty[5] to fill existing knowledge gaps on children’s well-being in Ethiopia related to the extent to which monetary child poverty and multidimensional child poverty overlap. The 2016 Welfare Monitoring Survey (WMS) and Household and Consumption Expenditure (HCE) surveys administered across the same sample of households were used for the data analysis.
We are reporting below the key findings. The study estimates that 37 million children (89 per cent) are multidimensionally poor/deprived of fulfilment of three or more basic needs and rights. On average, multidimensionally poor children experience deprivation in 4.6 of the eight dimensions (basic needs and rights) used in the analysis.
12 million children (29 per cent) live in monetarily poor households with adult-equivalent consumption of less than ETB 7,184 per year. The poverty gap ratio shows that financial resources amounting to an average of 7 per cent of the poverty line per capita are required to ensure that all poor children can cover their basic needs for survival. The incidence of monetary poverty is higher among children than among the total population – 29 and 21 per cent respectively. And children constitute more than half (60 per cent) of the poor.
11 million children (28 per cent) are simultaneously poor in monetary and multidimensional terms. While 94 per cent of children who are monetarily poor are also poor in multidimensional terms, only 31 per cent of multidimensionally poor children are also monetarily poor.
The scale, intensity and nature of poverty and deprivation across geographical areas suggests that there are wide disparities in securing children’s rights across the country. 30 per cent of children in rural areas and 9% in large city areas are multidimensionally and monetarily poor at the same time. Three times more children in rural areas are only multidimensionally poor compared to large city areas. The proportion of multidimensionally and monetarily poor children tends to be smaller in urbanized regions: Addis Ababa (10 per cent), Harari (11 per cent) and Dire Dewa (19 per cent).
Children residing in rural areas are twice as likely to be multidimensionally poor as their peers in large city areas, with incidence rates of 95 per cent and 46 per cent, respectively. Across regions, incidence ranges from 23 per cent in Addis Ababa to 98 per cent in Somali. These two regions also have the lowest and the highest deprivation intensity.
Nearly all children under 18 are deprived of adequate housing and sanitation, and almost a half are deprived of adequate nutrition and safe drinking water. More than half of children aged 5-14 years – 57 per cent – are deprived in the education dimension, driven mainly by no school attendance or delayed school attendance relative to age.
The study recommends that both monetary and multidimensional child poverty measures should be used to inform policies and programmes intended to enhance children’s wellbeing. It is important that these indicators are included and regularly tracked as part of the Ten-Year Development Plan.
Interventions and financing intended to improve children’s wellbeing should adapt to the social reality of variations in scale, intensity and nature of poverty and deprivation across geographical areas. And it is critically important to Improve household financial wellbeing through cash transfer programmes and other measures should be complemented with substantial investments in soft measures. The availability and accessibility of basic services – including public infrastructure connecting communities to services, markets and jobs – are critically important.
Due to the potential impacts of COVID-19, the gains achieved in poverty reduction in the past years can be easily lost. In the upcoming 10 years, Ethiopia should identify innovative approaches to reduce poverty levels for the most deprived children through South-South learning, ensuring enough resources are allocated and priority is given to social sectors, and implementation of integrated child sensitive social protection interventions.