Child Poverty, Youth (Un)employment, and Social Inclusion

Worldwide child and youth poverty remain the biggest barrier to achieving a better life in adulthood. Progress in lifting children out of poverty in the last decades has been slow and limited in the developing world, while the recent global economic crisis has exacerbated child poverty, youth unemployment, and social exclusion in many developed countries. This book critically examines the long-term consequences of growing up poor, the close linkages between deprivation and human rights violations in childhood and adolescence, and their effects on labor market entry and future career in a number of developing and developed countries. Drawing on multiple disciplinary perspectives, it makes a forceful case for the eradication of child poverty to take center stage in the Sustainable Development Goals.

Maria Petmesidou is professor of social policy at Democritus University of Thrace.

Enrique Delamonica is chief of social policy and gender equality for UNICEF Nigeria. He has written several books and articles on social policy and economic development and has taught at Columbia University, the New School, and Saint Peter's College.

Christos Papatheodorou is professor of social policy and dean of the School of Social, Political, and Economic Sciences at Democritus University of Thrace as well as head of the Research Unit for Social Policy, Poverty, and Inequalities, Labor Institute, Greek General Confederation of Labor.

Aldrie Henry-Lee is senior research fellow and acting director of the Sir Arthur Lewis Institute of Social and Economic Studies at the University of the West Indies, Jamaica.