Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Children and Youth Services Review journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/childyouth Child income poverty in China from 2005 to 2015: The application and decomposition of the FGT indexes Zuobao Wang ⁎ , Xiaoou Man Institution of Social Security Research, School of Humanities and Law, Northeastern University, Shenyang, China ARTICLE INFO Keywords: Child poverty FGT index Subgroup decomposition Growth-redistribution decomposition Pro-poor growth ABSTRACT This study analyzed child income poverty in China from 2005 to 2015 using data obtained from the Chinese General Social Survey. Building on the Foster–Greer–Thorbecke (FGT) methodology, this study estimated the headcount, poverty gap and poverty severity indexes of all children and the poverty gap of poor children. Subgroup decomposition, growth-redistribution decomposition of poverty changes and pro-poor growth mea- surements were conducted. The results show that the overall poverty level among children was high despite a decreasing trend, and poor children's relative economic status worsened, especially in rural areas; there were large disparities among different groups of children by urban/rural status, ethnicity and hukou. Rural children contributed more to the overall poverty level and poverty changes than urban children. The growth among children is not relatively pro-poor but only absolutely pro-poor, increasing the inequality and finally offsetting the effect of growth on reducing poverty to some extent. 1. Introduction China has experienced rapid economic growth, averaging 10% an- nually since 1978, and has become the second largest economy in the world. According to the World Bank (2017), China had lifted > 800 million people out of poverty by 2017, accounting for a three-quarter reduction of global poverty between 1990 and 2005 and the realization of the UN millennium development goal of halving extreme poverty (Balogh, 2017; Sardana & Zhu, 2017). Despite this great achievement, it is worth noting that the pace of poverty reduction has slowed and fallen behind the economic growth in China since the second half of the 1980s (Angang, Linlin, & Zhixiao, 2005; Wang, 2013; Yao, 2000). Until 2015, there were still 70.17 million people living below the official poverty line (2300 yuan per year at 2010 prices), more than the population of Thailand (69.06 million in 2015), the 20th most populous country in the world. Among poor people, there are a considerable number of children who cannot make any money and have to depend on either their par- ents or other guardians for everything. They are the most vulnerable, innocent group of people experiencing income poverty and deserve special protection (Arrighi, 2007; Cousins, 2013; Dry & Leach, 2010; Lichter, 1997; Ridge, 2002). First, income poverty among either parents or other adult guardians causes child poverty (Hertz & Farrigan, 2016; Jonsson, Mood, & Bihagen, 2013). However, the family and circum- stances in which children are born are neither their choice nor their “fault” (Duncan, 2004; Espey, Holder, Molina, & Cobham, 2012; Gilbar, 2009) but what Rawls calls “the arbitrariness of fortune”(Rawls, 2009). According to Rawls, no one deserves the social position (e.g., a poor family) into which he or she is born. Thus, children are thrown into poverty and bear no responsibility at all(Helander, 2008; Mestrum, 2015); therefore, a social system should be set up to curb child poverty “so that these contingencies work for the good of the least fortunate” (Rawls, 1968). In addition, children are small, helpless, powerless and cannot work to improve their living conditions or advocate for them- selves when their needs are not met (Best, 1987; Dieker, 2013). Their lives and even fates are in the hands of others, including their parents, caregivers and the whole society. In contrast, some adults fall into poverty because of their own actions to some extent (though there may be some uncontrollable social factors), such as laziness, unwillingness to work, and low skill levels (Iyengar, 1994; Robinson, 2011; Wilson, 2010). Adults can improve their economic status and even escape poverty by improving their skills, working harder, etc. Thus, children are innocent in falling into poverty and helpless to escape poverty, and if we do not accept the premise that the poor deserve poverty, poor children deserve greater priority, and society should bring children to the forefront before adults; even if we accept the premise that poor https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2019.03.046 Received 25 January 2019; Received in revised form 24 March 2019; Accepted 24 March 2019 ⁎ Corresponding author at: Institution of Social Security Research, School of Humanities and Law, Northeastern University, No.195 Chuangxin Road, Shenyang, Liaoning Province 110169, China. E-mail address: wangzuobao@mail.neu.edu.cn (Z. Wang). Children and Youth Services Review 101 (2019) 70–79 Available online 27 March 2019 0190-7409/ © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. T