Statistics are available on persistent child income poverty for many European countries. Figure 4 shows average statistics for 2017-19 (to avoid data fluctuations during the COVID-19 pandemic) for 26 countries.11 The bar shows the rate of persistent child poverty, and the orange dots show the overall child poverty rate in the same time period. 11 There is enormous variation here: → In Slovenia and Denmark, less than 5 per cent of children experienced poverty over the long-term. In Romania, the prevalence of persistent poverty was 25 per cent – a five-fold difference. → Sweden and Malta had similar overall child poverty rates (19.4 and 20.2 per cent), but persistent poverty in Malta was more than two and a half times more common than in Sweden. → Latvia (15.7 per cent) had a higher overall child poverty rate than Ireland (14.5 per cent), but its rate of persistent poverty was approximately a third lower. As seen from the United Kingdom example above, engrained experiences of poverty throughout childhood can be associated with particularly negative outcomes for children, exacerbating the disadvantages that poverty already creates. The degree of persistence of child poverty is therefore another important aspect to consider in evaluating a country’s performance on child poverty. Figure 4. Persistent child poverty in European countries Sources: See Technical Appendix 35 25 20 15 10 5 14 Child Poverty in the Midst of Wealth Slovenia Denmark Czechia Sweden Latvia Finland Poland Netherlands (Kingdom of the) Cyprus Germany Austria Ireland % of children Estonia Potugal Switzerland France Belgium Croatia Luxembourg Malta Greece Italy Lithuania Spain Türkiye Persistent poverty Total poverty Bulgaria 0 Romania Persistent child poverty (%) 30 Innocenti Report Card 18