Changing profiles of child poverty

Highlights

This study examines the socioeconomic determinants of COVID-19-induced poverty among households with children in refugee-hosting districts of Uganda, comparing refugee and host households. Poverty remained higher among refugee households, but the difference in poverty rates between them and host-community households decreased. Family structure (i.e., number of children) and occupation type (i.e., income from wage labour) were stronger predictors of falling into poverty for refugee households than for host-community households. Moreover, social transfers were only partially effective in shielding households with children from the likelihood of falling into poverty.

• Poverty remained higher among refugee households, but the difference in poverty rates between refugee and host-community households decreased in 2020
• Refugee households with more children were more likely to move into poverty
• Poverty is more volatile among refugee households and more chronic among hostcommunity households
• Working in wage employment and agriculture increased the likelihood of households in host communities falling into poverty compared to other sources of income
• Additional cash assistance was not sufficient to prevent households with more children from falling into poverty