A new NOVA study of children i low-income families in Norway suggests that the typical path into poverty is different for Norwegians and immigrants: for Norwegians, the path is through parental break-up/divorce, for immigrants, through having a very large family.
85 per cent of the poor immigrant families live with their biological parents, compared to 60 per cent of the poor Norwegian children. On the other hand, the study shows that many poor immigrants live in very large households. Results of the study are published in NOVA Report 16/06 (in Norwegian).
We also find that within the sample of low-income families in the study, immigrants are considerably overrepresented, says Anne Skevik Grødem, one of the researchers behind the study. Immigrants as a group are poorer than ethnical Norwegians, even within the low-income sample. Moreover, more immigrants have had low incomes for several consecutive years. These are however tendencies more than absolutes: we find Norwegian families also in the lowest quintiles of the income distribution, and we have immigrants whose poverty spells hav been of short duration, Grødem emphasizes.
Comparing ethnic Norwegians and immigrants
The report is about children growing up in low-income families, with a special emphasis on differences and similarities between immigrant children and children from ethnically Norwegian families. We pain with a broad brushstroke, Grødem says, touching upon most of the central areas in the lives of children and families. We discuss income levels, housing and levels of living, health, children´s school satisfaction, leisure activities, media use and children´s spending. The main objective is to give an overview of the research field.
Data
Data for the report have been provided through the project Children´s level of living - the implications of family income for children´s everyday lives, which is funded by the Norwegian Women´s Public Health Association (N.K.S.) and NOVA. Interviews have been carried out with parents of children between 6 and 12, as well as with children aged 10-12. The low income sample, to witch most of the families in this survey belong, consists of families who had incomes below the poverty line (60 per cent of the median per consumption unit) in 2000.
For more information, contact Anne Skevik Grødem or Tormod Øia.
NOVA Report 16/06
Immigrant children in low-income families
Tormod Øia, Anne Skevik Grødem & Olve Krange
