3 Economic well-being of children in the deep Swedish recession of the 1990s

Recent comparative research as summarised in Vleminckx and Smeeding (2001) indicates that Sweden has performed better, and in fact much better, than most other OECD countries when it comes to child well-being and child poverty. High labour market participation among parents, particularly mothers, and generous public programmes facilitating parenthood are very important reasons for this good record.