Conceptualising and operationalising childhood deprivation: a case study of Albania

Angela Baschieri, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM)
Jane C. Falkingham, University of Southampton

Using the Convention of the Right of the Child as a framework, the paper provides an example of the analysis of multidimensional aspects of child poverty. We identify education attendance, child nutritional status, access to clean water and material poverty as the four main spheres of child deprivation. Using data from the 2002 Albanian Living Standard Measurement Survey as a case study we identify pathways of interactions between different forms of deprivation. The findings confirm the key role of maternal education in determining the risk of a child suffering from multiple form of deprivation. Within the specific setting of Albania, although the likelihood of being deprived on all the different dimensions is not high, the probability that a child escapes any form of deprivation is very low.