Belgium: One in seven children in the nation, about 14.5 percent lives in a household at risk of poverty, with the most vulnerable in Brussels, according to the Belgium statistics office, statbel.
The children in Brussels Capital Region are the most affected, as is the case with the overall population, while those living in the Flemish Region are the least affected.
In the report, it has been mentioned, for example, 15% of children under the age of 16 in Brussels are financially unable to afford new clothes, compared to 11% in Wallonia and 6% in Flanders.”
Moreover, growing up in a household at risk of monetary poverty, which in Belgium means living in a household with a total disposable income below the poverty line, which is €2,703 for a household of two adults as well as two children under the age of 14, it has a major impact on a child’s health, upbringing and social life.
For a small percentage of children from poor backgrounds, the food they have access to is limited, with 7 percent of children living below the poverty line not eating meat, fish or a vegetable on a per-day basis.
Along with this, about 10 percent do not have an age-specific book, 16 percent do not have toys outdoors, and 11 percent do not have adapted toys: Clothing-wise, a third of the 33 percent only own second-hand clothes.
Their household’s financial situation prevents a quarter of them from leisure activities, such as being members of a sports club or youth moment, and 14 percent from inviting friends over to play and going on holiday for even one week a year also financially impossible for almost six in 10 of these children.
Furthermore, children are more vulnerable to material deprivation when they are part of a single-parent household, have at least one parent of the non-European origin or belong to a renter household.
