Children of the crisis

The cases all share the same grey, almost “dehumanized” backdrops. TV reports feature witnesses who may be unaware of it themselves, but who all confirm the social and civic decadence into which we have fallen. Us, our young people, even our children.

And as we “celebrate” another International Day of the Child (1st June), we learn of a study that reveals the true condition of Portugal’s children.

The study was commissioned by the Ministry of Labour and Social Solidarity and undertaken by the ISEG (Superior Economy and Business Management Institute) of Lisbon’s Technical University.

It shows that two in every five Portuguese children live in situations of poverty. In other words, a horrifying 40 per cent of the child population.

Researchers came to their damning conclusion after analysing and cross-referencing data for the years 2004 to 2009.

To give some of the examples of our national reality: 23% of Portuguese children live in overcrowded surroundings, and 5% live in families that don’t (cannot?) prepare meals with meat or fish at least every other day.

One in four children doesn’t take part in any after-school activities because their parents’ can’t afford to pay for them, while 4% don’t each fresh fruit or vegetables every day.

There are certain children for whom recent years have been particularly difficult. For example, in 2004, 39.7% came from families where no-one worked; this percentage rose to 45.5% in 2009.

With carefully chosen words, the study declares that “ the current situation leaves us with some additional questions. Recent cuts in social subsidies do nothing to predict a promising future for these children…”

For the team that undertook the study believes that child poverty “has an increasing impact on other sections of the population” because its consequences are felt “in the short, medium and long-term”.

In the short term they involve the “daily deprivations that children are subjected to”, and in the medium- and long-term they affect “school achievement levels/ professional qualifications/ absorption into the job market and young people’s capacity for social participation and intervention” when they have grown up.

Looking ahead, who will be interested in a country with this kind of background?