Multidimensional Child Deprivation in Ireland: A New Child Rights-Informed Approach

Despite an increasing body of literature that conceptualises child poverty as distinct from household poverty, it is still commonly measured as the proportion of children living in low-income households. This study uses longitudinal data from the Growing Up in Ireland study on a cohort of children born in 2008. The child rights framework was applied to identify six dimensions of child deprivation: nutrition, access to healthcare, protection from violence, access to information, leisure, and housing. Combining these dimensions into an index of child deprivation at ages 9 and 13 shows that household income poverty alone is insufficient for identifying deprived children. However, low income remains a statistically significant predictor of child deprivation. Notably, transitions into multidimensional deprivation were more prevalent than transitions into the lowest income bracket over time. Children whose mothers were single or had a lower level of education were more likely to experience multidimensional deprivation at ages 9 and 13. At age 13, girls were at a higher risk of deprivation than boys. Overall, this study highlights the potential of rights-informed multidimensional deprivation indices to identify areas of deprivation that are less dependent on household income. The study indicates the advantages of using child-centred indices over household-level measures when suggesting policy interventions to combat child deprivation in higher-income countries.