Multidimensional Child Poverty in Ghana: Measurements, Determinants, and Inequalities
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Date
2021
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Springer
Abstract
Early childhood deprivations and inequalities have social and economic implications in
adulthood and thus, their elimination is essential for child development. However,
child-level estimates of poverty are rare in low income countries. Using data from two
recent rounds of the Ghana Demographic and Health Survey, we measure the extent
and sources of childhood deprivations in Ghana and examine subgroup differentials in
child poverty. In addition, we examine the child quality-quantity by estimating the
causal relationship between number of children and child poverty. Finally, we assess
the sources of rural-urban inequalities in child poverty. We find that despite declining
incidence and intensity of multidimensional child poverty, significant subgroup differentials persist in Ghana. The findings of the paper reveal that living standards is the
main contributor to multidimensional poverty in early childhood in Ghana. Our
findings also confirm a significant causal relationship between child quality and
quantity in Ghana, there exist a positive relationship between the number of children
and the intensity of child poverty in Ghana. Finally, we find that rural-urban inequalities in child multidimensional poverty in Ghana are attributable to differences in
observed maternal and household characteristics between rural and urban areas. The
persistence of subgroup disparities in child poverty may be detrimental to achieving
equitable and inclusive growth in the country. There is the need for considerations of
equity, fairness and social justice in the distribution and development of social services
and economic infrastructure to ensure even distribution of social and economic opportunities and promote social mobility across groups.
Description
Research Article
Keywords
Child poverty, Multidimensional poverty, Inequalities, Deprivations, Decomposition, Ghana