Czech study reveals persistent poverty across generations
A recent analysis by the Czech Statistical Office revealed that children raised in low-income families often remain in the poorer segments of the population as adults. Over a third of individuals who experienced financial hardship during childhood still find themselves among the least wealthy in adulthood.
The study, presented by statistician Simona Měřinská in “Statistics and Us,” involved a survey asking respondents about their household’s financial situation at age fourteen. Měřinská observed that those who perceived their childhood financial state as very poor largely continue to be in low-income households, with 35.3% in the lowest income bracket.
In contrast, individuals who considered their childhood financial situation to be “very good” are now more likely to be in the high-income bracket. Specifically, 34.9% of them belong to the highest income bracket, indicating they are among the wealthiest in Czechia.
I asked research fellow of the Europeum Institute, Klára Votavová, why Czechia is falling short in tackling persistent poverty.
“What is important is the accessibility of basic public services like education, for instance, that people from all backgrounds have access to a good education regardless of their families and region. It’s also about the affordability of other public services like healthcare that is free and accessible, public transport, housing, and so on.
“Of course, there would also need to be investments in human capital. For instance, if someone is unemployed, he/she should be given the opportunity to retrain and at the same time not fall into debt. All these issues are not tackled well enough in Czechia. We can go into these different sectors, but the deteriorating affordability of these basic public services would for me be the most important thing.”
Does educational achievement impact social status and income inequality?
“Yes, definitely. Success in education is very closely tied to level of wages, access to housing, and other issues. And the situation in Czechia is cemented in a way that if you are born in Prague you have advantages over the Ústecký region, for instance.
“What is interesting about I think about education in Czechia is that it’s not even an issue of regions, like the fourteen regions we have. But it’s an issue of a micro level. You can have municipalities that are quite successful and then those right next to them that are not so successful.
“I think this has a lot to do with the fact that education is very fragmented. The responsibility for setting up elementary schools is on the municipal level. So, if you have a good mayor and director of the school, it makes a big difference.
“I think this is also an issue in a lot of areas, including education.”
So then a solution would be more centralization?
“I think in general and not just for education I think the fact that we have the highest number of municipalities per capita in the EU is complicating a lot of things including schools, public investment, building roads, everything is so complicated, if you have so many municipalities.”
Children from less affluent families in Czechia fare worse compared to their peers in other European countries like Poland and Estonia. All of the mentioned issues above make it more challenging for Czechs from economically disadvantaged areas to move into wealthier segments of society.
