Table 3. Starting points and progress in tackling child poverty Source: See Technical Appendix Status in tackling child poverty (2012–2014 to 2019–2021) Starting point (2012–2014) Increasing (by more than 10 per cent) High (above 25 per cent) Stable (less than 10 per cent change) Decreasing (by more than 10 per cent) Bulgaria, Colombia, Italy, Mexico, Spain, Türkiye, United States Greece, Lithuania, Romania Medium (15 to 25 per cent) France, Switzerland, Australia, Austria, United Kingdom Chile, Cyprus, Luxembourg, Sweden, Slovakia Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Estonia, Ireland, Japan, Latvia, Malta, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea Low (below 15 per cent) Iceland, Norway Czechia, Slovenia Denmark, Finland, Germany, the Kingdom of the Netherlands Part 3 of this report described one of those policy tools with great potential to prevent or remedy child poverty: child and family benefits. All countries included in the Report Card series have some form of income support in place specifically targeting families with children, but the comprehensiveness and the level of protection provided by their policies vary greatly. There was also variation in the efforts countries made to strengthen their social protection systems since the 2008-10 global recession. Trends in social protection investments have been reflected in the extent of child poverty reduction achieved by countries. While trends in the income poverty of children depend on a variety of factors and cannot always be explained by shifts in social protection policy, there are a number of cases where the link is clear. Slovenia and Poland, which occupy the top two positions in the league table, have achieved remarkable improvements since Report Card 12 took stock of child poverty. The key to Slovenia’s success has been in improving living standards, in part promoted by labour market policies. In the decade since the financial crisis of 2008, the Government of Slovenia has implemented a series of policies to tackle in-work poverty and promote decent work. These included the 2015 amendment of the Minimum Wage Act,49 which stipulates the annual adjustment of the minimum wage determined by the price of a basket of goods required for a decent minimum living standard. By 2018, Slovenia’s minimum wage became the third highest in comparison to the country’s median wage, only surpassed by France and Portugal.50 Between 2013 and 2021, inwork poverty dropped from 7.1 per cent to 4.8 per cent,51 accompanied by a 31 per cent decrease in child poverty. 45 Child Poverty in the Midst of Wealth Innocenti Report Card 18