Childhood poverty rife in Spain

SPAIN is home to the second highest number of children at risk of poverty in the European Union.

A total of 2.7 million minors in Spain face poverty, according to Amnesty International (AI), an association that has urged the Spanish government to put an end to austerity policies and start investing in social programmes.

In an event held last week in Geneva, head of the Centre for Economic and Social Rights (CESR), Gaby Ore Aguilar, explained that since 2008, around 800,000 children had fallen into poverty or were at strong risk of it and she added: “These figures are the equivalent of losing 10 years of progress in the fight against childhood poverty.”

Spain is second only to Romania in the list. In total, there are 13 million people in Spain at risk of poverty and social exclusion, which makes up a quarter of the total Spanish population, according to Ms Ore.