On Friday evening, TV2 published an article about a new study showing that families with children have had to forgo buying clothes and medicine for their children, as well as avoiding activities, entertainment and travel, due to their inability to afford them, according to Ritso.
Despite lower energy prices and lower inflation, a large proportion of financially needy families with children today are experiencing economic pressures.
This is demonstrated by a study conducted by the Rambol Foundation for the Egmont Trust in collaboration with the Danish Folkehjælp Foundation.
The study included a comparison of so-called basic deprivation in economically stressed households with children with a similar study from 2022.
95% of households surveyed reported that their financial situation had not changed or improved over the past year.
Among other things, many families find it difficult to provide necessities such as children's clothing, medicine, and recreational activities.
The survey mentioned is based on questionnaires completed by 3601 families where one or both parents are unemployed and/or live on general transfer income.
These are the families who applied for support from the Danish Folkehjælp during the past three years, and the families were not representatively selected in this study.
60% of families indicate that their children lacked necessary clothing or footwear during the past three months due to the family's financial resources.
One in five children without medication
In just over 2,000 families with children, one or more children needing doctor-prescribed medication, 21% of these families with children responded that they had to stop taking the medication because they could not afford it.
Children hide their families' poverty
In four out of five families, over the past three months, children have had to refrain from participating in trips to the cinema, visiting museums or the like, as well as taking a holiday or traveling.
Heidi Sorensen, director of the Egmont Trust Trust, told Politiken, as reported by TV2, that children react to the economy by refraining from asking for things they know there is no money for: “They hide the family’s poverty, for example, by withdrawing from activities they cannot afford. They make excuses for not participating or try to suggest cheaper or free alternative activities. They fail to tell their parents about their own needs.”.
According to the same source, an estimate from Statistics Denmark in 2022 showed that 47,200 children in Denmark are growing up in relative poverty.
