FACTBOX-Britain's hidden childhood poverty in figures

By Emma Batha LONDON, Feb 10 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Millions of children are growing up in poverty in Britain - one of the world's richest countries - as families struggle with soaring food prices, energy bills and housing costs. With inflation at a 30-year high, children's charities want more support for low-income families facing increasing hardship amid a cost-of-living crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic.

By Emma Batha LONDON, Feb 10 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Millions of children are growing up in poverty in Britain - one of the world's richest countries - as families struggle with soaring food prices, energy bills and housing costs.

With inflation at a 30-year high, children's charities want more support for low-income families facing increasing hardship amid a cost-of-living crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic. Here are some facts:

- 4.3 million children, or nearly one in three, were living in poverty in 2019/2020, according to the latest available data. Charities say the nationwide figure will be higher now. - The child poverty rate was 31% in 2019/2020, up from 27% in 2013/14.

- 75% of children growing up in poverty live in families where at least one person works. - 46% of children from Black and minority ethnic groups live in poverty compared with 26% of children in white British families.

- 49% of children in lone-parent families are in poverty, in part due to higher childcare costs and lower earnings potential. - Children in larger families are twice as likely to be poor as those from smaller families.

- 1.8 million children were growing up in very deep poverty even before the pandemic stuck - A million households - including 550,000 children - were estimated to have been destitute in 2019, up 35% since 2017.

- The cost of raising a child to the age of 18 is about £160,700 for a couple and £193,800 for a lone parent - up more than 3% since last year, says the Child Poverty Action Group. - Britain has one of the world's most expensive childcare systems, with the average bill rising by 4%-5% in 2021.

- More than 1.74 million children in England were eligible for free school meals in January 2021, up 17.3% on January 2020 before the COVID-19 pandemic took hold. - Children from lower-income families are developmentally a year behind better off children when they start school. Sources: Child Poverty Action Group, Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Coram Family and Childcare, Save the Children UK

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