CHIP Report 11: The dynamics of child poverty in the Kyrgyz Republic

Abstract

Using newly available panel data from the 1998 - 2001 Household Budget Survey, this paper examines trends in childhood poverty in Kyrgyzstan. Although the incidence of poverty among children declined over the late 1990s, it rose again in 2002 when overall economic growth was negative. Children, particularly those under 7, are more likely than the population as a whole to live in poverty and are significantly more likely to live in chronic poverty - to be poor for four or more consecutive years. This is particularly the case in Naryn oblast, where 87 per cent of children were chronically poor in 2001. Households with many children and single parent households are particularly likely to be chronically poor. However, around 10 per cent of children do move in or out of poverty each year. The paper also analyses data on health service utilisation and concludes that the proportion of people who cannot access health services due to poverty has fallen.

Citation

Falkingham, F., Ibragimova, S. (2005) CHIP Report 11: The dynamics of child poverty in the Kyrgyz Republic. Childhood Poverty Research and Policy Centre (CHIP), London, UK, ISBN: 1-904922-15-5, vi + 38 pp.

CHIP Report 11: The dynamics of child poverty in the Kyrgyz Republic

Published 1 January 2005