By IRNA,
Berlin : Every fourth welfare recipient is a child in Germany, according to a report released Tuesday by the Berlin-based Caritas relief organization.
“Too many children are growing up in families in Germany who cannot earn a living on their own. Every fourth person among a total of 7.6 million aid recipients, is a child,” said the head of Caritas, Peter Neher at a news conference here Tuesday.
He urged sustainable government policies to combat children’s poverty.
Neher called for increased funding to improve the situation of poor children in Germany.
The United Nations children’s agency (UNICEF) has repeatedly urged Berlin to boost efforts in its campaign aimed at battling children’s poverty.
The recent UNICEF report on the state of German children pointed to mounting poverty problems among children from single-parent and migrant families as well as families with many children.
The UN study warned that many poor children feel ostracized, neglected and ignored and have almost no educational chances.
According to the latest statistics, around 35-40 percent from single-parent families grow up poor, while 17 percent of children with an immigrant background fail to complete their school education.
The report urged additional financial assistance and better educational chances for poor children as well as providing more daycare centers and full-time schools.
Poor children are those whose parents earn only 60 percent of the average net income in Germany, according to the UNICEF survey.
According to social experts, poor children often face scholastic problems, get sick more often and become vulnerable to criminal behaviour.
Based on German government figures, every seventh child in Germany lives in a poor household.
Experts have cited the country’s high unemployment rate, deep social welfare cuts and the breakdown of family values as the main reasons for the dramatic increase in the number of poor children.
Based on the first comprehensive study on the problem of poor German children which was published by Berlin’s Free University in 2006, there is no hope for a short-term solution to the problem.
In fact, the survey predicts a further alarming rise in child poverty in Germany over the coming years, as the government won’t be able to pay for the growing number of social welfare recipients.
The study also estimates that in five years, almost every second child in the German capital Berlin will be on social welfare.
There will also be a major nationwide increase in youth crimes such as dealing with narcotics and theft as a result of mounting children’s poverty in Germany, according to the report.