Growing Up In A Poor Household In Belgium: A Rank-Based Multidimensional Perspective On Child Well-Being

This article documents some consequences of growing up in a poor household in Belgium. We use data from a specific drop-off module on child well-being in the MEQIN data set, a broad probability-based Belgian household survey. We compare the percentile ranks of children growing up in poor households with children growing up in more favorable income groups (vulnerable, low and high middle class, and rich households, respectively) for several non-monetary dimensions of child well-being. We look at material deprivation, housing quality, physical health, and life satisfaction. Our results reveal a grim picture in which children growing up in poor (or vulnerable) households are not only found at the bottom of the income distribution, but are also more likely to have a low rank in the non-monetary dimensions, with the exception of the physical health dimension. We also use the broad and multidimensional nature of our data to examine the phenomenon of cumulative deprivation, finding that children in poor households are more likely to simultaneously occupy a low rank in all of the well-being dimensions considered.