A key theme of this report is the extent to which countries took the opportunities available during the period of stable economic growth from 2012 to 2019 to tackle child poverty before the more unstable current period, which began in 2020 and continues. The period from 2012 to 2018 So, how did the countries mentioned in the Report Card fare during this period of stable growth? It is important to note that including data from 2019 posed challenges due to the unprecedented impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, with data on household income for that year being collected in 2020 when the pandemic was at its height. This led to difficulties in data collection and the reliability of results. To maintain accuracy, we discuss the pattern between 2012 and 2018. We were able to analyse data for 32 of the 43 countries across these years. → Of the 32 countries, 18 reduced their child income poverty rates in this six-year period, the range of reduction was 1 per cent in Czechia to over 30 per cent in Latvia and Poland. → In two countries – Spain and Türkiye – the rate was the same in 2012 and 2018. → In 12 countries, child income poverty increased, ranging from 3 per cent in France to more than 20 per cent in Norway (which subsequently reduced its rate) and the United Kingdom. → On average across these 32 countries, the child poverty rate fell modestly from 20.1 per cent to 18.5 per cent in six years. Given the positive economic picture in many of these countries during this period, there is a sense of a lost opportunity to better support children and to regain ground lost during the 2008–2010 recession. The period from 2019 to 2021 Assessing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent events is more difficult. In preparing this report, it was anticipated that a key theme would be the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on child poverty. However, the data do not provide a clear picture. As noted above, there were problems with data collection during this period, which make statistics less reliable than usual. In addition, a complete picture for all countries is not yet available. Complete data for each year from 2018 to 2021 have been gathered for 30 Report Card countries, mostly European. The average child poverty rate across these 30 countries in 2018 was 18.2 per cent. The average rates for the subsequent years were 18.1 per cent (2019), 18.1 per cent (2020) and 17.6 per cent (2021). This lack of evidence of substantial changes in relative income poverty during the last few years should not be taken as an indication that children’s lives have not been affected by recent crises. The limited effect of the pandemic on household income poverty is likely to have been due to the strong measures taken by governments to support businesses and households. Children were, however, affected in many other ways by the pandemic – for 25 Child Poverty in the Midst of Wealth Innocenti Report Card 18