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Child Poverty in Ireland
Key Facts
- 1 in 10 children in Ireland are living in consistent poverty today
- Almost 100,000 (9.7%) children in Ireland are living in consistent poverty today
- Almost 230,000 (22.7%) children in Ireland live in relative poverty
- Ireland has one of the highest rates of poverty in 17 developed countries, second only to the United States. The 2004 United Nations Human Development Report, in measuring the extent of ‘human poverty’ in 17 industrialised countries took into account the probability of not surviving to age 60, long-term unemployment, lack of functional literacy skills and numbers falling below the income poverty line
- Almost 24% of children living in poverty in 2001 experienced persistent poverty. This means that they were poor in 2001, and in at least two of the previous three years
- Up to 1,000 children do not transfer from primary to secondary school
- 15% of young people leave school without a Leaving Certificate and 3% with no qualification at all
- Almost 50,000 children are in housing need, according to the most recent assessment of need carried out by local authorities around the country in 2002. These children live in families that have very low incomes with almost 60% of these families existing on €10,000 per year or less.
- Approximately 1,000 homeless children are living in Bed and Breakfast accommodation with their families. The most recent Government homelessness figures from 2002 tell us that 1,140 dependent children were homeless in the Dublin area, and the majority of these children under 12 years of age.
- Approximately 3,000 Traveller children live on the roadside. 1 in 4 Travellers has no piped water or electricity
- Perinatal mortality is three times higher in poorer families than in rich families
(Source: End Child Poverty Coalition)
Sources of Information
Organizations working with children in Ireland
Organizations working with children overseas
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