In the European Union, one in four children grow up at risk of child poverty. Although this figure gradually declined until 2019, it has since affected an additional million children, reaching 25.2%. Spain is the second country in the European Union with the highest rate of child poverty, with a figure of around 33%, representing an increase of 1.6 points since 2019, according to data from Save the Children.
The child poverty rate in Madrid is 30.2%, slightly lower than the national average. However, inequalities between the city’s neighborhoods are among the greatest in Spain. For example, while in Puente de Vallecas the rate reaches an alarming 45%, in the neighboring district of Retiro it is 9.1%. In addition, the gap between the general at-risk-of-poverty rate and that of children continues to widen, reaching 17% last year.
Likewise, 9% of children at risk of poverty statewide, or around 230,000, live in Madrid’s urban area, making the capital a glaring example of growing social inequality. The latest report from the Office of the High Commissioner against Child Poverty highlights that the city concentrates both poverty and extreme wealth. In districts like Tetuán, the child poverty risk rate is 29.9%, while in Chamartín it is 8.3%.
Children’s NGOs, such as Save the Children and UNICEF, have been on a war footing for years to denounce the situation and demand solutions from institutions. According to Save the Children, nearly a million children and adolescents lack basic goods and services, reflecting the impact of inflation and the insufficient increase in income of families with children. In 2023, child poverty in Spain reached 28.9%, widening the gap with the rest of the population whose rate remains at 20.2%. This means that child poverty is 8.7 points higher than that of the general population, the largest difference in history since data became available.
The organization warns that the increase in child poverty in Madrid is not only due to income growth, which raises poverty lines, but also to the fact that the income of households with children has not increased at the same rate as those of the other groups. In addition, severe material deprivation, which affects children’s essential goods, has also increased. Save the Children is calling for urgent policies to prevent parenthood from being a factor of impoverishment and break the cycle of poverty that is perpetuated between generations.
A particularly serious situation in certain neighborhoods
The differences between districts are catastrophic, with rates ranging from 8% to over 45%. Diego Santamaría, child poverty expert at Save the Children, highlights that in the city of Madrid the great disparity in poverty levels is serious and that it can be explained, among other things, by factors such as the proportion of young people and/or the migrant population, groups facing greater precariousness.
In this sense, in the latest UNICEF report, Spain: child poverty amidst abundanceMigrant status is also singled out as a key factor in the risk of falling into poverty for boys and girls in the country. In Spain, the child poverty rate reaches 70% when both parents are foreigners, almost triple the rate when both parents are Spanish (24%). Thus, nearly three out of four children of foreign parents live in poverty.
Santamaría also explains that 26% of households with children have great difficulty making ends meet, compared to 17% of households without children. Furthermore, 12.8% of children suffer from a serious material deficit, a figure higher than the national average and which has increased by 4 points compared to the previous year. According to Santamaría, inflation has exacerbated these difficulties, a fact that has been observed especially in regions like Vallecas, Leganés or Fuenlabrada, where the cost of living continues to increase while material conditions remain precarious.
In this context, his organization is betting on a parental allowance to offset the high cost of having children, in addition to making services such as free lunch and help with school textbooks more accessible. He also regrets that after the arrival of the minimum subsistence income, expenses linked to the minimum income in the CAMs decreased considerably, affecting the most vulnerable families.
Another determining factor in the case of the city of Madrid is the persistence of the problem. The rate of persistent child poverty (which includes boys and girls who have lived in poverty for two years or more) is particularly high: above 20%, according to the latest data from UNICEF (which also places Spain in fourth among countries with the highest rate of child poverty). European Union rate in this area).
Chronic child poverty is a particularly dangerous process because it is a differentiating factor from children who do not suffer from poverty or who have suffered from it occasionally in terms of learning problems, health problems or problems emotional and behavioral.
Management of Madrid City Hall
The issue of child poverty in the city of Madrid has led the opposition to question the policies of the municipal and regional government. Emilia Sánchez-Pantoja, deputy for Más Madrid and vice-president of the Family and Social Affairs Commission of the Assembly, criticizes the fact that the fiscal policies of the Community of Madrid increase inequalities instead of correcting them. “Madrid lowers taxes for everyone, but unevenly,” he explains.
In this sense, the deputy denounces the fact that while the richest save large sums, low-income families barely notice the difference, being forced to pay out of their own pockets for essential services such as school canteens or the dentist. This worsens inequality, particularly to the detriment of those with the fewest resources and in essential areas such as health care. “We are the community with the most private health insurance because we are the community with the fewest public services,” says Sánchez-Pantoja.
Another issue on the agenda is the price of housing, which Sánchez-Pantoja describes as “a poverty-making machine.” Families with children, already with more expenses, suffer a double economic impact by having to devote a large part of their income to rent, explains Más Madrid. This situation is more serious in neighborhoods where child poverty rates are high.
Associations like UNICEF talk about the importance of guaranteeing the social protection of children through tools such as education and housing. With this in mind, Más Madrid is committed to taking measures such as free public education from 0 to 3 years, reducing school segregation according to socio-economic level and ethnic origin or nationality, or financing of school textbooks. According to the representative, these policies lead to better educational results and reduce school dropouts and child poverty.
For their part, sources from the Social Policies, Family and Equality sector of Madrid City Hall maintain that the administration has increased aid to vulnerable families and resources intended to combat child poverty. The Town Hall claims to have increased the budgets for school feeding programs and scholarships for extracurricular activities, with the aim of reducing inequalities between neighborhoods. In addition, they highlight the implementation of psychological support and social assistance initiatives.
From Más Madrid, on the other hand, they criticize the lack of an effective plan on the part of the municipal government to combat child poverty. They denounce the symbolic aid which leaves many families behind and mention the absence of a strategy to implement the European Child Guarantee in Madrid. For Más Madrid, it is urgent to establish “a plan with clear objectives that guarantees essential services such as education and food, thus supporting all families”.
City council sources acknowledge that challenges remain significant, particularly in more deprived areas, where socio-economic conditions present additional challenges. Nevertheless, they assure that they work in collaboration with NGOs and other institutions to design long-term policies that alleviate the chronic nature of child poverty and improve these families’ access to essential services such as housing. and education. They also take the opportunity to call on the Spanish government to promote more child protection measures in collaboration with other institutions.
