Economic inequality harming children’s wellbeing in world’s wealthiest countries - UNICEF

NEW YORK (May 12, 2026) – Economic inequality in wealthy countries is linked to worse physical health and poorer academic outcomes among children, according to an analysis published today by UNICEF Office of Strategy and Evidence – Innocenti.  

Report Card 20: Unequal Chances – Children and economic inequality examines the relationship between economic inequalities and children’s wellbeing in 44 OECD and high-income countries and finds that, in most of these countries, rates of income inequality and child poverty remain stubbornly high. On average across the countries, households among the top 20 percent of earners take home over five times more than the bottom 20 percent, while, on average across countries, almost one in five children live in income poverty, meaning their basic needs may not be met.

“Inequality profoundly affects how children learn, what they eat, and how they feel about life,” said UNICEF Innocenti Director, Bo Viktor Nylund. “To limit the worst impacts of inequality, we need urgently to invest more in the health, nutrition and education of children in the most deprived communities.”  

There is a clear relationship between higher levels of economic inequality and children’s health, according to the report. Children growing up in the most unequal countries are 1.7 times more likely to be overweight than those in the most equal countries, which may reflect poorer quality diets and missed meals.

Highlighting data from European Union countries, the report also notes that only 58 percent of children in families among the bottom fifth of earners are in very good health, compared with 73 percent among the top fifth. 

The report draws a link between economic inequality and educational performance. It notes that countries with wider gaps between rich and poor tend to have lower academic test scores overall. Children in the most unequal countries have a 65 per cent chance of leaving school without basic proficiency in reading and mathematics compared with 40 percent for children in the most equal countries.

These inequalities between countries are replicated within countries, with wide gaps in the test scores of children from the wealthiest and poorest families within individual countries. On average, 83 percent of 15-year-olds in families among the top fifth of earners have basic proficiency in mathematics and reading compared to 42 percent in the bottom fifth. 

The report calls on governments and stakeholders to take action in several policy areas to minimize the impact of inequality on children’s well-being, in particular by reducing child poverty. Action can include:

• Improve safety nets, including family and child benefits and minimum wages, to help ensure no child grows up in poverty.
• Support disadvantaged communities with subsidized housing, improvements to infrastructure in disadvantaged neighborhoods, and investment in public facilities like green spaces and leisure facilities.    
• Address inequalities in education by minimizing socio-economic segregation in schools; ensuring that schools are appropriately staffed and equipped regardless of students’ economic backgrounds; and by providing children with healthy and nutritious school meals.   
• Engage with children to better understand their perspectives on how inequality affects them and their families and to develop solutions that promote their wellbeing.   

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Note to editors:  

Download Report Card 20 (2026) www.unicef.org/innocenti/reports/report-card-20 

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Report Card 20: Unequal Chances – Children and economic inequality provides data on the potential impact of economic inequalities on children’s lives in 44 countries classified as high-income and/or members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). (Note: Some indicators in the report do not present data on all 44 countries.) Data on income inequality reflect the ratio between a person at 20 per cent and 80 per cent of the equivalized income distribution and are sourced from the OECD Inequality Database, Eurostat Database and calculations by UNICEF. Data on child poverty are based on the proportion of children (aged 0–17) living in households with equivalized disposable income below 60 per cent of the national median and are sourced from Eurostat EU-SILC, the OECD Income Distribution Database, and national statistical offices. The report also provides data on three major dimensions of child wellbeing: Mental wellbeing, which is represented by two sets of data – life satisfaction from OECD PISA 2022 and adolescent suicide from the WHO Mortality Database; Physical health, which is represented by two sets of data – child mortality from UN IGME (2024) and overweight and obesity from NCD-RisC; and Skills, which is represented by two sets of data – academic proficiency and social skills, both from OEDC PISA 2022. The report updates a league table of how 37 OECD/high-income countries are doing for children, based on measures of physical health, mental well-being and skills. The Netherlands, Denmark and France remain the top-ranked countries. 

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UNICEF USA advances the global mission of UNICEF by rallying the American public to support the world’s most vulnerable children. Together, we are working toward a world that upholds the rights of all children and helps every child thrive. For more information, visit www.unicefusa.org. 

For more information please contact:
Nina Marie Costa, UNICEF USA, 973-519-5253, NMCosta@unicefusa.org