are available, is that systematic and predictable inequalities play an
enormous role in determining life prospects before a child is even
born. If policy fails to respond to those inequalities it is not neutral,
but will instead reinforce and further embed the patterns.
Figure 3 from We’re All in This Together shows the extent to which
income inequality is related to differences in malnutrition rates.
More than 40% of children in bottom quintile families across the
developing world are malnourished, with all the immediate and
long-term physical and mental impacts that follow, compared to
around half that in top quintile families. These effects, however,
differ markedly across countries and regions – making it very clear
that the effects of inequality can be managed, or not. There are
choices about the response to inequality, as well as about addressing
it directly, that will have powerful effects for child poverty.
Figure 1. Inequality and Malnutrition
Source: Christian Aid (2010).
Note: Data is from the Millennium Development Goals Report 2010
The following figure shows data for an important horizontal
inequality instead, the infant mortality premium suffered by
indigenous groups across South and Central America. The numbers
in the columns are the indigenous infant mortality rates per 1,000
births, while the height of the columns shows the ratio to non-
indigenous mortality rates. While the scale of the effect varies
greatly, its consistency across quite different political, social and
economic contexts is striking.