Is income growth among children pro-poor? The case of rural China

ABSTRACT

This paper estimates child income poverty in rural China and evaluates the pro-poor nature of income growth during the period 2005–2015. The results show that the growth is absolutely pro-poor but not relatively pro-poor. Although the child poverty level in rural China has decreased, the relative income level of children at the bottom levels of income decreased and the inequality level among rural children increased, which slowed the process of poverty reduction.

KEYWORDS:

• Child poverty
• pro-poor growth
• inequality
• China

JEL CLASSIFICATION:

• I32
• O15
• O40

Acknowledgments

The author appreciates Xiao-ou Man for her suggestions to improve this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Chinese National Social Science Fund [16CGL043];