Child poverty
...ded for subsistence. In 2002 and 2003 the share of food products in consumption basket totaled 70%, while it was 60% in 2001. Minimum consumption expenditures of population, which conditionally were taken as income and were measured as the cost of minimum consumption basket, were equal to 120,000 AZM in 2001, 175,000 AZM in 2002 and 178,850 AZM in 2003. There exists extensive evidence that poor families generally have more children than do non-poor families, or households with more children are more likely to be poor. Analysis of HBS results also proves this concept: Table 3. Poverty Incidence by number of children in Household 2001 2002 2003 Household Absolute Poverty Line(120,000 AZM or 25.8 USD) Relative Poverty Line(72,000 AZM or 15.5 USD) Absolute Poverty Line(175,000 AZM or 36.2 USD) Relative Poverty Line(125,134 AZM or 25.9 USD) Absolute Poverty Line(178,850 AZM or 36.4 USD) Relative Poverty Line(129,684 AZM or 26.4 USD) Extreme poverty line(125,195 AZM or 25.5 USD) Total population 49% 17% 46.7% 8.8% 44.7% 12.0% 10.0% Household with no children 38% 12% 24,3% 3,88% 23.1% 4.2% 3,3% Household with 1 child 49% 15% 40,8% 8,66% 39.8% 8,5% 6,8% Household with 2 children 51% 18% 47,2% 9,28% 46.9% 12,6% 10,7% Household with 3 children 55% 19% 59,1% 12,09% 54.1% 19,2% 15,8% Household with 4+ children 63% 25% 69,35% 20,74% 62.7% 16,4% 13,3% Source: SSC, HBS Growing of poverty with number of children suggests, that the decrease in proportion of families having many children is caused mainly by poverty. Basic needs poverty Nowadays, poverty is measured not only by quantitative methods, but also with “non-measurable” elements, such as access to basic education, basic health, adequate nutrition and improved environment. This aspect reflects poor people’s, as well as children’s potential strength, quality of life and their participation in society. Giving children access to an integrated package of basic social services of good quality is one of the most effective steps in combating poverty. Income growth is not sufficient for poverty reduction without ensuring access to basic services. Child Labour Exploitation of child labour is also a form of poverty. When a family is poor, children are pressured to work in order to supplement the household’s income. The pressure is especially high when a child lives alone or with one parent for different reasons (for example, death of one or both parents). Working children usually drop schools; poverty exposes them to economic exploitation and physical injuries. In Azerbaijan many poor families do not allow their children to become involved in exploitative forms of child labour. However, there are children that are forced to work in dangerous and exploitative conditions (for example, young girls become involved in prostitution). The Multiple-Indicator Cluster Study, a nationally representative survey of 6166 households (the State Statistics Committee/UNICEF 2000) shows that 13.6 percent of children aged 5-14 are “currently working.” This figure includes children who are doing paid or unpaid work for someone other than a household member, or who spent more than four hours per day in housekeeping tasks. According to the study, while the figures show virtually no difference between boys and girls (see below), there are large variations across regions, urban-rural residence, household wealth, and age of the child. One in five children in Nakhcivan is currently working; as is nearly one in ten older children aged 10-14 years. Most remarkable is the class difference: “only 5 percent of children in rich households are currently working, while the corresponding figure for children in poor households is 22 percent.” The table shows that the percentage of working children is higher in rural rather than urban areas. While in cities the domestic work of children is not of a big concern, in villages they are usually involved in domestic and agricultural work. Therefore, their attendance and performance at school is getting worse (however, the available data do not show the situation). Table 4. Percentage of children 5-14 years of age who are currently working, Azerbaijan, 2000 Paid work Unpaid work Domestic work: Family work Currently working Number of children < 4 hours/ day 4 or more hours/ day Sex Male 0.3 5.2 49.2 3.8 6.1 13.6 3082 Female 0.2 4.9 57 6.8 1.8 12.3 2891 Region Baku area 0.3 1.3 49.9 2.3 1.2 4.6 1478 Nakhcivan 0.4 3.7 56.2 12.4 8.7 20.2 242 Center, North 0.1 5.2 54.7 7.9 4.8 16.6 2247 West, Southwest 0.7 6.1 57.2 5.1 6.3 15.2 1173 South 0.1 10.1 47.1 1.3 2.4 13.1 833 Area Urban 0.2 2.6 53 3.4 1.9 7.6 3061 Rural 0.3 7.6 53 7.1 6.3 18.7 2912 Household Status Resident 0.2 5.4 53.7 5.4 4.1 13.4 5379 IDP or Refugee 0.5 2 46.5 3.7 3.7 9.1 594 Household Wealth Poor 0.7 8.6 55.5 8.5 7.4 21.5 1371 Middle 0.1 4.7 52.4 4.5 3.5 11.7 3751 Rich 0.5 0.7 51.7 3.1 0.9 4.9 851 Age 5-9 years 0.2 3.3 42.5 1.3 2.5 6.6 2813 10-14 years 0.3 6.6 62.3 8.7 5.4 18.7 3160 Total 0.3 5 53 5.2 4 13 5973 Source: Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey, SSC/UNICEF, 2000 However, when we look at “domestic work” only, (cooking, shopping, cleaning, washing clothes, fetching water, and caring for children), a higher percentage of girls than boys (6.8% vs. 3.8%) are working more than four hours a day, as are older children (8.7% in the 10-14 year old category, vs. 1.3% in the 5-9 year old category.) Unfortunately, the study does not disaggregate the rural/urban, class or age categories by gender but it would be surprising if poor rural girls in regions outside Baku did not emerge at the top of the table: in many rural communities families assume that it is natural for girls in the age group 12-14 to assume many of the housekeeping and even the agricultural tasks of adult women. The domestic division of labor between women and men is marked and traditional, even in urban areas among middle and rich groups who are well educated. Men believe that they have the main responsibility for supporting the family; women assume almost all responsibility for domestic work except for activities such as repair of domestic equipment. Women in employment complain of the burden of two full-time jobs; men who perform any household tasks think of this of as “helping” the woman, rather than as one of their responsibilities. Girls, therefore, are a major source of household assistance to overburdened mothers. This can affect girls’ enrollment, attendance and performance in school. Education, gender Azerbaijan provides eleven years of free compulsory education for all its children at three levels: primary (grades 1-4, ages 6-9), main or basic (grades 5-9, ages 10-14) and general secondary (grades 10-11, ages 15-16). Students may also attend technical secondary (ages 15-18) or vocational secondary (ages 15-17). However, parents incur expenses in the form of uniforms, shoes, paper and pencils, etc., and after Grade 4, textbooks; and students whose examination points are insufficient to gain entry into secondary vocation, technical and tertiary levels must pay yearly fees. There is an evidence, that many also make extra payments to teachers and schools for classroom extras, trips, additional attentions to their children, etc., and that at least some teachers have come to expect this as a way of supplementing their low salaries . Since average income and purchasing power have declined markedly in the last ten years, parents, the majority of whom are living below the poverty level, face hard choices about spending. Analysis of girls’ and boys’ participation in education is seriously hindered by lack of gender-disaggregated statistical information at the national and regional level. Although some data were disaggregated in the past, they have not been included in the census reports. However, we can suggest, that there is a problem of need in private tuition, for entering high schools. As salaries of school-teachers are very low, they are more interested in teaching children privately on a paid basis rather than teaching at school. Another problem is associated with school drop-outs especially in rural areas. This is caused by involvement in agricultural works of children and early marriages of girls. Social exclusion Currently there are more than one million refugees and IDPs in the country, which makes up more than 12% of total population. However, the data for analysis child issues is not available. Health Poverty is closely connected with the population’s health status. Poor health indicators affect individuals’ well-being, their potential to earn income, and children’s ability to attend and perform well at school. Poor people sometimes do not have enough financial resources to use available health services, or just do not have access to basic services. Individuals with poor health are more likely to pass on their poverty to their children, and thus create a viscous cycle of poverty. The available data on health indicators suggest that in the first years of independence the health status of the population deteriorated. However there are some signs that the negative trends have been reversed since the mid 1990s (see SPPRED chapter 1) SPPRED envisages a series of policy measures which will help ensure equal access to basic health services, and improve the quality of primary health care services. A total of 11 policy directions were identified to address these problems. The problems of guaranteeing quality of basic services have been compounded in the transition period by the drop in the share of government expenditure going to health sector, as well as by the drop in real wages of health sector employees. The latter has contributed to the rise in informal payments in the sector. The combination of formal (paid services and costs of medicine) and informal payments means that parts of the poor population cannot afford to use public health services. The 11 policy directions also incorporate measures aimed at improving child and maternal welfare. There are three MDGs which are linked to SPPRED’s objectives within the health sector, namely reduction of child mortality (goal 4); improving maternal health (goal 5); and combating HIV/ AIDS, malaria and other diseases (goal 6). Health and nutritional status of children One of the indicators showing child poverty is low birth weight. Children born without normal weight are likely to have a bad health status. According to MICS 2000, 9.5% of all children born alive were born with low birth weight (less than 2500 grams). The trend in this indicator could be seen in 2005 after repeating the survey. According to results of survey on registration of infant birth and mortality in Azerbaijan carried out by SSC, Sida and Statistics Sweden in 2003, health status of 1.6% children born in 2002 were reported bad (78% good, 20.4% satisfactory). The country has no regular way of collecting information on wasting and stunting of children, which is a good way to monitor child health status. These indicators are the direct results of children’s malnutrition. The Reproductive Health Survey provided one-off estimates for 2001 and UNICEF’s MICS survey for 2000. It is planned to repeat the MICS survey in 2005. Repetition of such surveys every 3-4 years would be extremely useful in monitoring poverty and living standards, and the effects of poverty on children’s health and development. According to the MICS results, the proportion of under-five stunting (height-for-age) children in 2000 in Azerbaijan was 19.6%, of underweight (weight-for-age) children 16.8% and of wasting (weight for height) children 7.9%. The first two indicators were higher in rural than urban areas: 21.7% to 17.2% and 18.5% to 14.9%, respectively. Regionally, the highest levels of these indicators were found in Nakhchivan (23.7% and 19.6%, respectively) and Western & South-West regions (25.1% and 22.4%). The estimates for the third indicator for urban and rural areas were almost equal – 8.0% to 7.9%, and the highest level was observed in Western & South-West (10.7%), and Central & Northern (8.3%) regions. According to the RHS, the prevalence of chronic malnutrition (height-for-age) among children aged 3-59 months was 13.3%, general malnutrition (weight-for-age) 6.8%, and acute malnutrition (weight-for-height) was 2.4% in 2001. Usually, a low weight-for-age is considered an indicator of chronic malnutrition when a low prevalence of acute malnutrition exists. Because the total rate of acute malnutrition was low among under-five (3-59 months) Azeri children, the 6.8% rate of general m...