Invest in children
Spending more on young children increases wellbeing
Governments should invest more money in children in the first six years of their lives to reduce social inequality. This would help all children, especially the most vulnerable, have happier lives, according to a report from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) on child wellbeing.
Doing Better For Children shows that average public spending by OECD countries up to the age of six accounts for only a quarter of all child spending. But a better balance of expenditure between early childhood and teenage years would improve the health, education and wellbeing of all children in the long term. “The crisis is putting pressure on public budgets across the world. But any short-term savings on spending on children’s education and health would have major long-term costs for society,” said OECD secretary-general Angel Gurría. “Governments should instead seize this opportunity to get better value from their investment in children. And spending early, when the foundations for a child’s future are laid, is key especially for disadvantaged children and can help them break out of a family cycle of poverty and social exclusion.”
Doing Better for Children compares public spending and policies for children with key indicators of child wellbeing such as education, health, housing, family incomes and quality of school life. Countries that spend relatively more on their youngest children include Finland, France, Hungary, Iceland and Norway. In contrast, Ireland, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand and the United States spend relatively little on young children.
Providing more cash benefits in pre-school years, strengthening pre – and postnatal services and early childhood education, especially to children in disadvantaged families, can promote wellbeing for all children. Supporting breastfeeding, and teaching parents the importance of a healthy diet and the risks of smoking would also help. Policymakers should consider offering fi nancial incentives, such as cash payments or food vouchers, to high-risk pregnant women, to boost the take-up of prenatal services, as some countries do. The Hungarian birth grant, for example, is paid on the condition that expectant mothers have at least four prenatal health checks. Most OECD countries concentrate child spending in compulsory education, but school systems are often not designed to address the problems of disadvantaged children. More of this money should be spent on helping less advantaged students within schools, through mentoring and out-of-school programmes, to improve behaviour and educational attainment. 