High rates of poverty and inequality are reproduced over
time and across generations. Amongst the many factors
that perpetuate inequality – such as unequal education,
unequal employment opportunities and earnings, and unequal
health risks and health services – we need to consider the role of
place and the unequal contexts in which children grow up.
Location, or where people live, plays a major role in determining
the availability of resources and opportunities that support human
development. In the two decades since democracy, there have
been improvements in many public goods: road access, the construction
of human settlements, service infrastructure, schools and
clinics.1 But vast disparities remain, and these will continue to
reinforce human inequalities until more even levels of delivery and
opportunity have been achieved.
This essay looks at how children are distributed spatially, and
whether this is changing. It is structured by the following questions:
• Why is it important to consider where children live?
• Where do children live?
• Who do children live with?
• What are the implications?