A number of countries participating in the Global Study are considering the use of composite indices in their child poverty analysis. We encourage teams to use this forum to share information on child poverty indices being considered
One example of a composite index is the Basic Capabilities Index (BCI) which is produced annually by Social Watch. The BCI is a summary-index that compares and ranks countries according to their social development progress, based on the status of national societies in relation to several minimum basic capabilities. The BCI gets closer to 100% when countries ensure universal access to a minimum set of social services. The BCI is based on three indicators, namely the percentage of children who reach fifth grade, survival until the 5th year of age and percentage of deliveries attended by skilled health personnel. The latest set of BCI (2008) illustrates that progress in basic social indicators slowed down last year, all over the world, and that the Millenium Development Goals will not be achieved at the present rate of progress.
Click here for BCI 2008
