The consequences of growing up poor

In this chapter the focus is on the consequences for children of growing up in poverty. Growing up poor impacts on children’s life chances, opportunities for social mobility, health, status and income. Yet the risk of childhood poverty is strongly tied to the social position of the family. Child poverty has a tangible societal cost as well, in terms of budgetary cost, productivity and employment. The chapter reviews the empirical evidence on the consequence of growing up in poverty in a diverse set of countries and contexts at both the micro and the macro level, and it discusses how child poverty intersects with other stratification variables, such as disability, gender, migration and class.