31 At the time of writing (early September 2023) it is not possible to provide a definite rate for the EU for 2022 as data for France are still marked as provisional and may change. 32 United Nations Children's Fund and International Labour Organization, More than a billion reasons: The urgent need to build universal social protection UNICEF and ILO, Geneva, 2023. 33 United Nations Children’s Fund Office of Research, ‘Children of the Recession: The impact of the economic crisis on child well-being in rich countries’, Innocenti Report Card 12, UNICEF Innocenti - Office of Research, Florence, 2014. 34 Chzhen, Y., S. Hämäläinen and J. Vargas, ‘Significant changes to family-related benefits in rich countries during the great recession', Innocenti Working Paper, UNICEF Innocenti Office of Research, Florence, 2017. 35 Nygård, Michael., Marja Lindberg, Frederica Nyqvist and Camilla Härtull, ‘The role of cash benefit and in-kind benefit spending for child poverty in times of austerity: An analysis of 22 European countries 2006–2015’, Social Indicators Research, vol. 146, 30 April 2019, pp. 553–552. 36 UNICEF & ILO, ‘More than a billion reasons: The urgent need to build universal social protection’ UNICEF & ILO, Geneva, 2023. 37 Universal child benefits typically cover children until they reach 18 years of age, or, in some countries, beyond 18 if they remain in education. 38 According to information provided by the UNICEF National Committee for the Republic of Korea. 39 ‘Fiscal balance’ is the balance between government revenue and government expenditure. A positive fiscal balance means a surplus. 40 Matsaganis, Manos, Cathal O’Donoghue, Horacio Levy, Manuela Coromaldi, Magda Mercader-Prats, Carlos Farinha Rodrigues, Stefano Toso and Panos Tsakloglou, ‘Reforming family transfers in southern Europe: is there a role for universal child benefits?’, Social Policy and Society, vol. 5, no. 2, 2006, pp. 189–197. Notten, Geranda, and Franziska Gassmann, ‘Size matters: targeting efficiency and poverty reduction effects of means-tested and universal child benefits in Russia’, Journal of European Social Policy, vol. 18, no. 3, 2008, pp. 260–274. Salanauskaite, Lina, and Gerline Verbist, ‘Is the neighbour’s grass greener? Comparing family support in Lithuania and four other New Member States’, Journal of European Social Policy, vol. 23, no. 3, 2013, pp. 315–331. 41 The detailed description of the two types of family (household composition, earnings, working hours) is presented in the Technical Appendix. 42 Housing benefits are non-contributory cash benefits aimed at contributing to the cost of rental housing in some countries. 43 In Bulgaria, a new mechanism for periodically updating the level of social benefits entered into force in June 2023 and is expected to markedly increase benefit adequacy (based on a survey conducted with National Committees and Country Offices). 44 Average not weighted by population. Among countries that participate in Eurostat. Authors’ calculations based on EU (Statistics and Living Income Conditions EU-SILC). 45 It should be noted that Türkiye adopted a new child benefit in mid-2022, the effects of which are not yet captured in the most recent EU-SILC survey. 46 Poverty reduction effectiveness is defined by the per cent reduction in child poverty attributable to cash benefits. 59 Child Poverty in the Midst of Wealth Innocenti Report Card 18