In Europe, child poverty has been a high-profile issue for more than a decade, and governments have taken measures to tackle the problem.

This is because if child poverty is left unattended as a family problem, poor children will be isolated from society in the future and the problem would result in increased social costs.

In 1999, then Prime Minister Tony Blair declared his intention to wipe out child poverty in Britain by 2020.

According to EU statistics, the number of children living in poverty in Britain was reduced from about 3.4 million at that time to about 2.8 million now by giving tax deductions to low-income parents and granting educational allowances to low-income families with children aged between 16 and 18.

In Germany, child allowances are given to families with children up to 27 years old. The government also provides housing allowances for low-income earners.

In Sweden, the government has individual self-help programs for people up to 20 years old, offering education and job-training programs.

Financial resources are needed for such allowances. Government spending on benefits related to childbirth, child rearing and child allowances in 2003 as a percentage of gross domestic product was 3.54 percent in Sweden, 2.93 percent in Britain, 2.01 percent in Germany and a meager 0.75 percent in Japan.