Unacceptably high levels of child poverty with 23.4% suffering deprivation
The high concentration of child poverty in Derry where a quarter of children (23.4 per cent) are deemed to be growing up in deprivation has been branded unacceptable by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF).
JRF’s annual Poverty in NI report identifies the Foyle constituency as one of a number of areas suffering from particularly high levels of child poverty alongside certain parts of Belfast (Belfast West 25 per cent; Belfast North, 24 per cent), Newry and Armagh (25 per cent) and Upper Bann (23 per cent).
Ursula O’Hare, Head of Northern Ireland at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, says: “Too much of the hardship we see in Northern Ireland is falling on our children, with child poverty rates remaining unacceptably high over the past two decades. For children growing up in poverty the impacts can be life-long, affecting their health, wellbeing, education and life chances.”
The report finds that nearly 1 in 5 children are growing up in poverty (19 per cent). This is 90,000 children living in families who are struggling to make ends meet.
Over the last 20 years there has been little change in the proportion of children growing up in poverty.
Almost 7 in 10 (68 per cent) of children in poverty live in households where someone works.
Almost a third of children growing up in poverty are living in deep poverty (31 per cent), putting them further away from the poverty line and more at risk of going without even basic essentials.
Thirteen per cent of children in the North are living in persistent poverty. Persistent poverty, where children have spent at least 3 out of the last 4 years living in poverty, suggests that the systems that should protect families from becoming trapped in poverty aren’t working as they should.
“Politicians in the Executive face a choice about the years ahead. Collective political ambition is needed to drive down child poverty. We must do everything we can to ensure children born in Northern Ireland today reach adulthood having had the best start in life possible. The public understand the severity of the issue and that not enough is being done to address it. It’s now up to the Executive to make it a key priority,” said Ms. O’Hare.