The Dynamics of Child Poverty in the Kyrgyz Republic

The Childhood Poverty Research and Policy Centre (CHIP) is a collaborative venture between Save the Children and the Chronic Poverty Research Centre (CPRC). CHIP is working with both researchers and advocates, North and South, to produce research, and influence policy and practice on childhood poverty in the wider context of chronic poverty. CHIP is funded by DFID, Save the Children and the CPRC. Directors: Dr Caroline Harper and Professor David Hulme This paper examines trends in the prevalence and severity of child poverty in the Kyrgyz Republic since the mid-1990s. Poverty is a multi-dimensional phenomenon and trends in both monetary poverty, as measured by household expenditure, and capability poverty, as measured by education, health status and access to related social services, are discussed. Recent evidence on child food security is also presented. Using newly available panel data from the 1998-2001 Household Budget Survey, the paper also investigates the dynamics of childhood poverty, in particular the duration of material poverty and factors associated with movements in and out of poverty. For information contact