Summary
1. Mission and purpose
This report has been prepared on behalf of the Nordic Council of Ministers and the Nordic Council to provide a shared knowledge base on the development, scale, and impact of growing up in a family with persistently low income in the Nordic region. The aim is to improve understanding of the risks and living conditions faced by children and young people in low-income families, thereby building a stronger foundation for Nordic cooperation and policymaking.
The analyses in the report are based on harmonised Eurostat data and also make use of data from other well-established sources. Additionally, they are based on existing research, which highlights the impact on children of growing up in a family with persistently low income. The report uses cross-sectional data to illustrate the scale of the issue and associated risks, supplemented by relevant research and documented experiences from children and young people.
This study was prompted by the growing need for insight into the development of social and economic vulnerability among children and young people in the Nordic region, as well as the effect that differences between countries and regions have on children’s everyday lives. Following the period of the Covid-19 pandemic, greater attention has been given to living costs, income insecurity, and social inequality. The pandemic has also highlighted the vulnerability of some families with children when society is under pressure.
The report aims to provide decision-makers and professional communities with a comprehensive understanding of the risks, consequences, and potential solutions. It draws on the Nordic vision of being a socially sustainable and inclusive region that promotes equal opportunities and genuine participation for children and young people. The ambition is for the Nordic region to be the best place in the world for children to grow up.
2. Why these are important questions
These are important issues because growing up in a family with persistently low income can affect children’s everyday lives in many ways. Financial circumstances not only affect access to material goods, but also the opportunity to participate in nursery, school, and leisure activities alongside their peers. When household finances are tight, children’s participation in activities that foster social relationships, belonging, and inclusion may be limited. Reduced participation can weaken children’s sense of belonging and social citizenship, and research shows that this can have long-term consequences for their development, health, and learning.
Children living in low-income households have fewer financial and social resources with which to cope with changes to their everyday lives, such as increased costs or disruptions to school, leisure, and family life. The report shows that these stresses affect children differently and can deepen existing differences. This is especially the case for children from low-income households, who frequently encounter material and social deprivation, heightened levels of stress at home, and diminished involvement in school and leisure activities. These findings raise important questions about how the Nordic welfare states can best ensure that children have opportunities, security, and a sense of belonging during periods of economic and social unrest, regardless of their parents’ social and economic situation.
The topic is therefore not only of socio-political significance, but also important for societal sustainability, which is defined as a process that strengthens community, trust, and positive social structures over time, as is the case with the Nordic welfare model.
3. Main content of the report
The main content of the report is that the Nordic region is often highlighted as an international role model for good living conditions, comprehensive universal welfare systems, and strong ideals of equality. Consequently, it is easy to assume that child poverty primarily affects other countries and social models. Nevertheless, recent decades have shown that a significant proportion of children in Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden grow up in families with persistently low incomes, and that this risk is unevenly distributed. As Chapter 1 of the report concludes, this development has led to child poverty being recognised as a political and professional issue throughout the Nordic region. Although the Nordic countries score highly on average on key indicators of living conditions, this does not necessarily translate into equal opportunities for all children. The discrepancy between ambition and reality forms the basis for the report’s overall analysis.
Low income among families with children must be understood as being about more than just income. In line with recognised European research and a long tradition of Nordic living conditions studies, child poverty is discussed in light of the interaction between economic resources, social norms, and children’s opportunities to participate in activities perceived as normal parts of childhood. Established indicators, such as ‘at risk of poverty’ (EU-60) and persistent low income, provide an important but incomplete picture. As Chapter 1 makes clear, income measurements tell us little about children's actual participation, their social relationships, or the strategies families use to make everyday life work. Therefore, the debate about measurement methods is both technical and also has implications for who is recognised, what problems are acknowledged, and what measures appear relevant.
The statistical patterns in Chapter 2 reveal a changing Nordic landscape. While Denmark and Finland have experienced relatively stable and low levels of low income among families with children over time, Sweden has seen a significant increase in the last two decades and Norway has seen a moderate but clear increase until recently. All countries share the fact that the risk is higher in households with a single breadwinner, low work intensity, many children, or an immigrant background. These patterns point to structural factors in the labour market, demographics, and income security. The chapter also illustrates how the cost-of-living crisis since 2021 has particularly affected low-income families. Relative income measures do not capture increased consumption expenditure; in practice, however, many low-income families have experienced weakened purchasing power and greater financial uncertainty. This illustrates the need to combine income-based indicators with knowledge of actual consumption and expenditure, as well as material deprivation.
However, statistical patterns only become meaningful when considered alongside children’s experiences. Chapter 4 provides an insight into how children and young people in low-income households experience their lives, including material limitations, social comparison, shame, and strategies for concealing their situation. Children report avoiding inviting friends home, opting out of leisure activities to avoid burdening their families and undercommunicating their own needs to protect parents who are already under pressure. These experiences demonstrate how financial hardship can affect children’s self-perception, sense of belonging, and participation in ways that cannot be captured by income statistics alone. The chapter also highlights that the children’s right to participation, as enshrined in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, is not always fulfilled in practice. Children’s perspectives are sought unevenly, and their influence on services and decisions is often limited.
Against this backdrop, measures and policy responses are crucial. Chapter 3 demonstrates the existence of a comprehensive Nordic knowledge base on effective strategies for reducing inequality and strengthening children’s opportunities. These strategies include high-quality early childhood education and care (ECEC), holistic and relationship-oriented schools, long-term and systematic family support, genuine access to leisure activities, and local area initiatives. These measures are most effective when they combine universal schemes with more intensive efforts for children and young people with the greatest needs, a principle known as ‘proportional universalism’. The quality of implementation is equally important: measures must be sustained, predictable, competent, and well-coordinated to be effective. The research in Chapter 3 emphasises relational mechanisms as a core element of all effective preventive work. This involves more than just encounters with individuals; it encompasses the way the entire organisation functions. Relational welfare is based on the key ideals of citizenship, justice, and recognition, and is therefore also a democratic ideal. At the same time, the chapter emphasises the need for knowledge-based practice at all levels, including insight into how stress caused by living conditions can affect the brain and impair cognitive function.
When read together, the chapters tell a coherent story. In the Nordic countries, a childhood marked by persistent low income is only to a limited extent the result of individual family failure, but rather the consequence of structural conditions such as the labour market, housing market, demographics, and political priorities shaping risk and scope for action over time. The Nordic model has many advantages, including universal services, small income differences, and high ambitions and positive experiences with social investment. However, the model is under pressure. When differences between children increase, real incomes weaken at the bottom and certain groups are systematically excluded, the ideal of equality, as well as the conditions for social sustainability and trust, are challenged.
The main message of the report is that growing up in persistent low income is a social challenge that must be closely monitored. It also emphasises the close relationship between this issue and structural factors such as the labour market, housing costs, and income security. These conditions impact children’s opportunities, security, and participation in critical aspects of their upbringing. Policies that combine economic protection, robust universal services, relationship-oriented practices, and the systematic involvement of children and young people are required to address the stress related to living conditions and the vulnerability that characterises the everyday lives of children and their families. Only in this way can the Nordic countries ensure that their ambitions for equality are reflected in children’s everyday lives.