Pedro Sánchez visits kids and teens resource centre on International Day for the Eradication of Poverty

Kids and Teens Intervention and Resources Centre, Madrid

During his visit, on which he was accompanied by the Minister for Health, Consumption and Social Well-being, María Luisa Carcedo, and the High Commissioner for the Fight against Childhood Poverty, Pau Marí-Klose, the President of the Government of Spain met with a group of parents and their children so they could tell him about their concerns and the reality in which they live. Pedro Sánchez also took the opportunity to learn about the educational and recreational activities offered to children at this facility, as well as the actions aimed at raising parenting skills for the parents of these children.

On the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, Pedro Sánchez wished to highlight his government's commitment to the fight against child poverty, as reflected in the draft General State Budget presented in Brussels earlier this week. According to Pedro Sánchez, this Budget "represents hope for hundreds of thousands of families in Spain, meets our commitments to Europe and is committed to fairer economic growth".

In his speech, the President of the Government underlined the duty to slow inequality and ensure social cohesion from institutions, to forge a coalition between public and private entities, highlighting the work carried out by such organisations as Save the Children. The Government of Spain "wishes to play an active role" in these efforts by forming part of a great alliance against child poverty.

Along the same lines, Pedro Sánchez announced that the Government of Spain will allocate 180 million euros "to begin with" to start rolling out the Minimum Subsistence Income, make progress on the universalisation of education from 0 to 3 years of age and increase financial help for school canteens, measures which the President of the Government described as "not enough". "We have to do much more", said Pedro Sánchez, who went on to say that, "regardless of the economic resources a family has, it must be able to guarantee an education for its children from the day they are born". Therefore, "the plan to universalise education from 0 to 3 years as a joint effort between the three tiers of government is vital", concluded the President of the Government.

Child poverty in Spain

Pool Moncloa/ J.M. CuadradoSpain is one of the countries with the highest risk of child poverty in Europe. In 2016 (the last year for which complete figures are available from throughout Europe), Spain had an at-risk-of-poverty rate among children of 29.7%. This was 9.7 points higher than the European average. Although the figure fell to 28.3% in 2017, this rate remains high in Spain.

The Spanish households with the highest poverty rate are households with children, especially single-parent families (mostly those with only a mother) and large families. The persistent poverty risk among children stood at 22.3% in the period 2012-2015, far higher than the rate seen in other age groups. The Welfare State in Spain is highly unequal in terms of its redistribution capacity. It is highly effective in terms of protecting against and reducing poverty in later life but does not work in terms of protecting children.

This situation can be explained by the lack of budgetary investment in childhood policies, given that Spain only allocates 1.3% of its GDP to transfers for children. This is a little over half the average in the European Union, which stands at 2.4%.

High Commissioner for the Fight against Childhood Poverty

The socio-economic situation of children in Spain requires the implementation of urgent initiatives capable of preventing the effects of economic vulnerability in families with children, and those initiatives should be implemented within the framework of an action plan against child poverty that the Government of Spain has committed to promoting.

In light of the severity of the current situation, the High Commissioner for the Fight against Childhood Poverty aims to coordinate and combine efforts to prevent such situations and social exclusion, helping to formulate the political agenda, design and assess programmes, and connect the work carried out by the various ministerial departments, regional governments, local council authorities, non-governmental organisations and other social stakeholders.

Non official translation