Material deprivation experienced by children

The indicator describes material deprivation experienced by children aged 0 to 15. Children with a significant lack of basic needs because the household cannot afford them are considered to be in material deprivation. The set of indicators consists of 17 items, of which 12 describe child-specific deprivation, four the deprivation experienced by children's households and one the deprivation experienced by adults in the household. If even one child in the household experiences deprivation in at least three items, all children in the household are considered to experience material deprivation.

The data included in the set of indicators are collected as part of the survey on income and living conditions. Some of the data are collected annually in the survey, but child-specific data are collected every three years.

The items of the indicator are:
12 items related to children's needs:
• cannot afford to buy some new clothes to replace worn-out clothes,
• cannot afford two pairs of properly fitting shoes,
• cannot afford to eat fruit and vegetables once a day,
• cannot afford a protein-rich meal at least once a day,
• cannot afford providing the home with books suitable for the child’s age group (incl. library books),
• cannot afford outdoor games and toys,
• cannot afford indoor games and toys,
• cannot afford regular leisure activities,
• cannot afford to celebrate the child’s special occasions,
• cannot afford to invite the child’s friends round,
• cannot afford to participate in school trips,
• cannot afford a week's holiday outside home at least once a year,

4 household-level items:
• cannot afford to buy new furniture to replace broken ones
• housing expenditure or loans have been paid late due to finances
• cannot afford to keep their home adequately warm
• cannot afford a car

1 item related to adults:
• no access to the Internet if needed, because cannot afford

The child-specific material deprivation indicator was developed by Eurostat.