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May 8, 1999
Children's outcomes improve as family income
rises to $30,000, new study shows
OTTAWA - Children in families with an income below $30,000 are at a much greater risk than others of poor health and are more likely to have difficulty in the classroom, according to a new study released today by the Canadian Council on Social Development (CCSD).
In Income and Child Well-being: A new perspective on the poverty debate, author David Ross examines the effects of family income on children's health, behaviour, learning outcomes and participation in their community. It also looks at the effects of income on children's family situation. The findings are based on new data on children up to Age 11 living in two-parent families.
"The chances of children developing into healthy, productive adults increase steadily as family income rises to $30,000," said Dr. Ross, Executive Director of the CCSD. "Below that level, children are far more likely to live in unsafe or unfriendly neighbourhoods or to exhibit disruptive behaviours in school."
Dr. Ross says the findings present strong evidence that the calls from child development experts for a so-called Children's Budget in the year 2000 are well-founded. "Our report should help to continue that momentum."
The report also shows that the level of family income needed to promote healthy child development is greater than Statistics Canada's low income cut-off (LICO) for a two-parent family and well above the poverty line proposed by the Fraser Institute.
"There is a movement in Canada to undermine using the LICO as a poverty line, but our findings show that children are at risk even at that level," observed Dr. Ross. "The poverty line isn't simply a number. It's an indication of how much inequality Canadians are willing to accept," he added.
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Income and Child Well-Being - Related Material
Canadian Council on Social Development,
190 O'Connor Street, Suite 100,
Ottawa, Ontario, K2P 2R3
Tel: (613) 236-8977, Fax: (613) 236-2750, Web: www.ccsd.ca, Email: council@ccsd.ca
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