Towards a better measurement of child poverty: relative deprivation of socially perceived needs and the consensual approach

Hector Najera, Marco Pomati and Shailen Nandy

Chapter 3 in Handbook on Child Poverty and Inequality, 2025, pp 53-71 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: This chapter proposes the adoption and use of the Consensual Approach (CA) to assessing child poverty. Based on the work of the pioneering sociologist Professor Peter Townsend, the CA has been used successfully across high-, medium-, and low-income country settings. Combining both qualitative and quantitative methods, it generates valid, reliable, and democratically informed indicators of deprivation and poverty for all age and population sub-groups. The CA is suited to shifting policy discussions from an outdated focus on minimalist measures reflecting absolute household-level poverty to a more nuanced understanding of poverty as exclusion from socially defined norms defined by the population. The CA encompasses national understandings of social and economic rights, entitlements, and aspirations, which apply to citizens of all ages, including children. An example of how the CA has been used is presented to show the value of the method in making meaningful assessments of child poverty across time and place.

Keywords: Child poverty; Poverty measurement; Measure reliability; Multidimensional poverty; SDGs; Household survey microdata (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
ISBN: 9781802200423
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