Measuring Multidimensional Child Poverty in Australia

Abstract

That poverty is multidimensional is now well established. Multidimensional assessment of poverty provides the opportunity to measure poverty in ways that inform policy and reflect what matters most to people experiencing it. However, challenges remain both in determining the dimensions of poverty that should be assessed and in ensuring relevant data are available to reliably measure across multiple dimensions. These challenges are particularly acute in regard to child poverty, and too often, child poverty is measured using proxies that are not appropriate or in ways that are not child-centred. Fifty years on from the Henderson Inquiry, Australia does not currently have an agreed-upon definition or measure of poverty (for children or adults). This creates an opportunity to develop a multidimensional measure of poverty that is child-centred and able to provide information to inform policies and services. In considering child poverty, we define a child as under the age of fifteen years. This article explores why it is important to measure the multidimensional nature of child poverty and considers the data that are currently available. This study has been conducted by the Children's Policy Centre at the Australian National University. All authors were employed by the Children's Policy Centre while undertaking this study.