THE GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLIC OF BELARUS AND THE UN DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM JOINT PROJECT

“Assistance in Preparation of Main Directions of the National Strategy of Prevention of Poverty in the Republic of Belarus”

This is a UNICEF Supported Survey

ANALYSIS OF LIVING CONDITIONS OF FAMILIES WITH CHILDREN IN THE REPUBLIC OF BELARUS

National ConsultantL.N. Markusenko

MINSK

2003

1

Contents

Introduction 31. Main Terms and Scope of the Problem Survey 42. General Characteristic of Well-being of Families with Children 83. Nutrition as a Characteristic of the Level of Well-being 104. Characteristic of Size and Amenities of Housing Facilities, Occupied by Families with Different Number of Children 125. Characteristic of Health of Children 136. Children-Orphans and Children under Guardianship 177. Main Forms of State Support to Families with Children 18Conclusion 23Annex 1 25

The 2002 Structure of Consumer Expenditures of Households with Children

Annex 2 26The 2002 Structure of Consumer Expenditures of Low Income Households with Children

Annex 3 27Consumption, Nutritional and Energetic Value of Foodstuffs in Households with Children Aged under 18, by Regions in the 2002

Annex 4 28Consumption, Nutritional and Energetic Value of Foodstuffs of Low Income Households with Children Aged under 18, by Regions in the 2002

Literature 29

2

IntroductionIn March-April 2003 the Institute of Social, Economic and Political Studies has conducted an

opinion poll. Its results evidence that the citizens of Belarus consider issues related to the level of life a priority: 53.8% respondents noted that one of first priority problems, requiring solution is the low level of living standards (Table 1).

Table 1

Distribution of answers to the question: “Which urgent problems in the country require, in your view, prompt solution?% (open question, possibly more than one answer)

Option for an answer March 2003Problems of economic development 53.9Low level of living standards 53.8Unemployment 26.6Poor level and inaccessibility of medical services 13.0Arrears in payments of salaries, pensions, benefits and so on 12.5Political problems 10.4Violation of human rights 7.5Poor level and inaccessibility of education 5.9Collapse of the system of collective and soviet farms 5.4Crime 5.2Alcohol and drugs abuse 4.6Environmental problems 2.8Low level of culture of population 2.0Poor functioning of public transport 1.3Consequences of the Chernobyl disaster 0.6Other 3.7

3

1. Main Terms and Scope of the Problem SurveyMethodology of each survey requires certainty in the categories used from the very beginning.

In this respect below as a point to proceed from the existing approaches to interpreting of the key categories are considered in order to determine the terms and notions used in the present survey.

Generalization of various sources provided for revealing the following approaches to defining the category of children or a child: A child is any human being under 18 years.

Convention of the Rights of a ChildPart I, Article 1

We define a human being less than 17 years a child…Anglo-German Foundation for the Study of Industrial Society,

Poverty in Britain and Germany,Stephen P. Jenkins, Christian Schluter and Gert G.Wagner, 2001, p. 4.

Children – individuals under 18 years.

Ministry of Statistics and Analysis of the Republic of Belarus A child is a natural person, who did not reach the age of 18 years (full age) unless

according to the law the person acquired full civil capability earlier.

The Law of the Republic of Belarus “On Rights of a Child” In economic and demographic research age limit to define a child the age of beginning

of capacity to work, fixed by the legislation. In the Republic of Belarus it is 16 years. By 1 January 2003 in Belarus there were 1,833 thousand people aged under 16 years.

A person from the moment of birth till eighteen years is considered under age. A child till the age of fourteen is considered juvenile. A juvenile aged between fourteen and eighteen is considered a teenager.

Code of the Republic of Belarus on Marriage and FamilyIn this survey children are referred to as natural persons prior to reaching the age of eighteen.

At present in the Republic of Belarus of all the population of 9,950.9 thousand persons children constitute 2,211.6 thousand persons or 22.2%, including 1,745.1 thousand persons (78.9%) are juveniles (under 14 years), 466.5 thousand persons (21.1%) - teenagers (Table 2).

Table 2 Population under 19 years in 2002

Age (years) Males (thousand persons) Females (thousand persons)Under 1 year 47.1 44.01 47.7 45.12 47.3 44.63 47.4 44.34 45.0 43.25-9 276.8 262.610-14 384.5 365.515-19 428.0 411.2

During the last 40 years in the Republic of Belarus there is a negative demographic tendency, characterized by reduction in the number of young population (Fig.1). This situation to a considerable extent is linked with conditions, framing reproductive behavior and motivation of population.

Reproductive behavior – system of actions and relations, mediating birth or refusal to give birth to a child within or without marriage.

Reproductive motivation – condition of personality, motivating an individual to reach personal objectives of economic, social and psychological nature through giving birth to a certain number of children (Fig. 2)

4

Fig. 2 Scheme of reproductive behavior

According to Article 185 of the Republic of Belarus Code on Marriage and Family “all children have the right to live in the family, with parents and relatives, to enjoy their care and attention. The right of children to enjoy care and attention of mother and father is equal, irrespective whether the parents live together or separately. In case parents live separately the child aged ten shall be entitled to choose the parent to live with. Trusteeship and guardianship bodies shall take all measures to transfer children left without parental care to other family through guardianship, trusteeship, placement into a foster family. A teenager shall be entitled to live on his/her own provided there are housing conditions to live, material support and control from the trusteeship and guardianship bodies”.

Family is a group of persons linked by moral and material community and support, common housekeeping, rights and obligations, arising from marriage, kinship and adoption.

5

Conditions and level of life Extent of necessity in children

Evaluation of conditions of implementation of need in childrenResults of reproductive behavior

Demographic structure by gender, age, and marital status

Level of birth rate

Number of children in the family

Other relatives of spouses, disabled dependents, and in exceptional cases other persons, can be through court decisions considered members of the family in case they live together and keep the house together“ (Article 59 of the Republic of Belarus Code on Marriage and Family).

According to the data of census of population in the Republic of Belarus there are 2,832.3 thousand families, of which 1,445.1 thousand families have children aged under 18 years. Absolute majority of children in the Republic of Belarus (about 98%) are brought up in families.

Large family is a family with three and more dependent children. The status of large family is proved by a certificate, issued by the local governing and managing bodies. The sample of the certificate and procedure of its issuance are established by the Government of the Republic of Belarus (Article 62 of the Republic of Belarus Code on Marriage and Family). In the Republic of Belarus there are about 260 thousand large families.

Incomplete family is a family where children are cared about and brought up by one parent. The following families shall be considered incomplete: women, who gave birth to children without marriage and who are not married; widows (widowers), who did not get married and who bring up children under age; parent, who dissolved a marriage and bringing up children under age; parent, who did not get into a new marriage, in case the other parent is considered obscurely lost; single citizens, who adopted children. In the Republic of Belarus there are about 450 thousand incomplete families.

Poverty and misery is a condition, when main needs of an individual or a family exceed the resources available to satisfy them [2].

Poverty is a condition, when income does not provide for standard, legislatively fixed level of well-being for a particular country and the poor live worse than others.

Misery (pauperism) is a condition when incomes are below the level necessary to provide for physiologically normal life of citizens [1].

The researches evidence that it is interesting to consider issues of poverty or material well-being in the context of problems of level and quality of life rather than taken separately. In case one proceeds from the fact that the notion “level of life” reflects the process of satisfaction of needs of people, then the structure of content of this notion can be presented as system of complexes of need and means of their satisfaction (consumer complexes). The following is considered main consumer complexes or subsystems of level of life: food, clothes and footwear, housing, health, leisure, education, culture. Alongside with first-hand components the notion “level of life” includes subsystems external to the process of direct satisfaction of needs of people, such as conditions of work and employment, organizational forms of support to certain layers of population (social security, social insurance, social assistance), living conditions (ecological environment).

In the Republic of Belarus, starting from 1995 the Ministry of Statistics and Analysis switched to the new, meeting the requirements of international standards, methodology of studying of level of life, based on results of surveys of households.

Household is a separate person, a family or group of families or persons, permanently residing in this particular housing unit and jointly providing themselves with everything necessary for life.

Following the results of the survey the system of indicators, characterizing material well-being of households includes: monetary income, monetary expenditures and available resources.

Monetary income include all receipts of money as labor remuneration for those who work in different sectors of economy; income from entrepreneurial activity; pensions; stipends, benefits; income derived from property through interest, dividends, receipts from selling shares and other securities, receipts from selling real estate, personal and household property, cattle and agricultural products; income derived from rendering various services, other income.

As soon as it is impossible to get trustworthy information on incomes to assess real material well-being of population an indicator of the available resources is used. It is calculated as the sum of monetary expenditures of households and costs of the consumed foodstuffs, obtained from personal household economy, deducting materials costs for production thereof. Evaluation of natural receipts from personal household economy is effected using average purchase prices.

6

At present the main official indicator of scales of spreading poverty in the Republic of Belarus is the share of population with available resources below the minimum consumer budget. On the basis of dynamics of this indicator conclusions are made on the nature of changes in level of life of the population. In 2002 available resources of 30.5% of all population were below subsistence level. Available resources of families with children amounted to 128% of the minimum consumer budget, low-income families with children - 75% of the minimum consumer budget.

Persons or households with income (calculated per one person) is two and more times below the value of the minimum consumer budget are considered extremely poor.

Nutrition is support of life and health of a human through consumption of food. In the process of nutrition one of the main physiological necessities of a human body is satisfied, affecting on its formation, growth, functioning, sustainability to unfavorable impacts of external environment and lifespan. Nutrition in sufficient quantity and full value in terms of quality is considered rational and balanced. In 1857 Ernst Engel, a German statistician deduced a law, which later was called after him the Engel’s Law, according to which increase of income per capita results in less than proportional growth of expenditures on foodstuffs, or in other words, the higher the income of the family is, the smaller share in increase it spends on foodstuffs. This law is just for both each separate family and the society in general. It is important to note that the Engel’s Law is just for the level of income, exceeding US$ 100 per person. With lower income the share of expenditures on food is general high, people do not get enough calories, spending additional income on foodstuffs. Modern practice gives complete proof of fairness of conclusions drawn by Engel. In the most developed countries not more than 20% of the total income of the family is spend on foodstuffs. In the Republic of Belarus the structure of consumer expenditures of population foodstuffs amount to 52.8% (in urban areas 53.1%, in rural areas – 52%).

Health is understood as condition, ensuring active social and economic life of a person. Sociological survey, conducted by the Ministry of Statistics and Analysis in 2002, revealed the following parents’ assessment of the condition of health of their children:

“good” 52% “satisfactory” 44.5% “poor” 3.5%

Invalidity or disability (Latin “invalidus” – weak, infirm) is understood as permanent or long-term full or partial loss of ability to work because of illness or severe injury. In the Republic of Belarus in 2002 3,798 children under 17 were considered disabled (7.1% of the total number а persons, considered disabled for the first time). Permanent studying of reasons of disability plays an important role in development of rehabilitation measures and assessment of their efficiency. Here it is very important to have unity of classification approaches and opportunity of international comparison of materials on this issue, which is provided by the International Statistical Classification of Illnesses (МКБ-10). Comparability of the notion invalidity or disability in the world is also liked with the use in the national research practices of the International Classifications of Impairment, Disability and Handicaps (ICIDH). In this classification a definition of disability is not limited to simple medical diagnosis of an illness or injury; it takes into account long-term consequences of the latter in behavior, physiological, social and economic aspects.

Rehabilitation in children’s medicine is aimed at restoring health and ability to work of sick children and return of disabled children to active life. Today, as a rule, the following children need rehabilitation treatment: recovering from brain illnesses; injuries of spinal cord; illnesses of joints and spinal column, accompanied with deformations; with congenital or acquired deformations of support and motive apparatus, speech, hearing; with heavy lesion of central and peripheral nervous systems; psychical patients; recovering from serious surgeries on internal organs; with sugar diabetes, grave form of bronchial asthma; grave hereditary and genetic illnesses of the nervous system. Medical rehabilitation is aimed at full or partial restoration or compensation of deformed or lost functions. All other forms of rehabilitation – psychological, pedagogical, social and economic, professional, everyday take place alongside with the medical rehabilitation and are directly linked with it.

Medical activity of parents plays huge role in prevention of development of chronic diseases and disability of children. Unfortunately, in spite of high educational census, only few of them get information on condition of health of children from lectures and consultations of medical workers, use special medical literature. The researches evidence that friends and relatives are the main sources of information for majority of parents.

7

In order to improve medical literacy in relation to prevention of chronic illnesses of children it is necessary to develop protocols of assessment of medical activity of parents with sick child and recommendations on individual work with parents. In implementing this direction of activities a great role shall be played by the non-governmental organizations (NGO) with all multiformity of spectrum of their activities.

2. General Characteristic of Well-being of Families with ChildrenAt present in the Republic of Belarus 24.7% of households are considered low-income,

including 1.6% extremely poor. Potentially families with children (having the heaviest dependent load) are subject to risk of poverty to the greatest extent. Research have shown that in the Republic of Belarus 36% of families with children are those with low income (in 2002 their available resources in average per person per month amounted to 59,561 BRL (about US$ 30), and 3.2% extremely poor (Table 3).

Table 3 Data on Well-being of Households in the Republic of Belarus

(From sample household survey data)

1995 1999 2000 2001 2002All households, thousand, of which 3504.9 3612.2 3603.6 3847.4 3853.5 low-income, % 31.2 40.4 35.7 23.9 24.7 extremely poor, % 2.2 4.3 3.4 1.8 1.6All households with children under 18, thousand 1633.3 1632.7 1538.7 1488.9 1445.1 of which low-income, % 45,1 51,4 47,8 33,6 36,0 of which extremely poor, % 3,7 6,6 5,5 3,0 3,2

The most oppressive statistics is related to large families: in 2002 78% of families, with 3 or more children were considered low-income, including 13.3% extremely poor.

Each child, irrespective of the fact whether he/she lives together with parents or separately has the right on such material support from the family or the state, which is necessary for his/her comprehensive physical and mental development, realization of natural propensities and talents, getting education in accordance with his/her abilities in order to ensure harmonic development of personality and educating decent member of the society.

Article 191 of the Republic of Belarus Code on Marriage and Family

Comprehensive realization of this right is also ensured through material well-being of families. Researches evidence that families with children have TV sets, VCRs, refrigerators and other durable consumer goods (Tables 4 and 5).

Table 4

Material Well-being of Households with Children

(From sample household survey data; by 1 July 2002; pieces per 100 households)

TV setsVCR Tape

recordersRefrigerators,

freezersWashing machines

Electric vacuum cleanersTotal of which

colorAll households, including those with: 127 110 36 67 117 81 66 1 child 129 112 39 66 116 81 68 2 children 126 109 35 70 120 81 67 3 and more children 116 90 13 62 109 74 46

It is worth paying attention to the fact that 26% of families with 3 and more children and 31% of low-income families with 3 and more children do not have washing machines. This involves additional physical load placed, as a rule, on the mother.

8

Table 5

Material Well-being of Low-income Households with Children

(From sample household surveys data; by 1 July 2002; pieces per 100 households)

TV setsVCR Tape

recordersRefrigerators,

freezersWashing machines

Electric vacuum cleanersTotal of which

colorAll households, including those with: 115 96 20 66 108 75 52 1 child 118 99 22 66 107 77 51 2 children 113 95 21 67 109 74 56 3 and more children 112 85 10 62 107 69 38

Availability of computers by 1 July 2002 was 3 units per 100 households (in Minsk – 9), which is evidently insufficient and limits opportunities for development of children in the era of information technologies.

9

3. Nutrition as a Characteristic of the Level of Well-beingAt present in the Republic of Belarus:

all families with children spend 49.2% of their budget on foodstuffs, whereas low-income spend 54% (Annexes 1 and 2);

Energetic value of food, consumed by families with children per day amounts to 2,251 Ccal, in low-income families with children it is 1,946 Ccal (in Brest and Vitebsk regions, accordingly 1,887 and 1,894 Ccal) (Tables 6 and 7; Annexes 3 and 4).

Table 6

Consumption of Foodstuffs in Households with Children(on average per member of the household)

Consumption of main foodstuffs, kg per year:

Households with children under 18

years

Including

1 child 2 children 3 and more

Bread and bakery products 93.5 94.7 90.6 98.6Potatoes 74.3 73.8 70.1 97.4Vegetables and cucurbits 65.6 70.8 59.2 57.6Fruits and vegetables 38.3 43.1 33.9 23.4Meat and meat products 47.2 53.0 41.8 29.0Milk and dairy products 242.7 253.6 230.7 217.6Eggs (pieces) 162 173 152 129Fish and fish products 12.7 14.1 11.3 8.9Sugar and confectionary 20.8 21.9 19.7 18.0Vegetable oil and other fats 8.2 8.7 7.7 7.4

Nutritional value (grams per day):

Proteins 69.3 73.4 64.3 61.0

Fats 89.7 96.1 82.9 72.9

Carbohydrates 290.4 297.2 277.8 299.0

Energetic value, Ccal per day 2,251 2,352 2,120 2,106

10

Table 7

Consumption of Foodstuffs in Low-income Households with Children(on average per member of the household)

Consumption of main foodstuffs, kg per year:

Households with children under 18 years

Including those with1 child 2 children 3 and more

Bread and bakery products 91.9 93.4 89.1 95.3Potatoes 73.9 71.4 69.6 92.8Vegetables and cucurbits 51.4 54.0 48.3 52.7Fruits and vegetables 22.0 23.4 21.4 20.0Meat and meat products 31.6 35.0 30.8 24.6Milk and dairy products 195.5 196.7 194.0 196.2Eggs (pieces) 128 132 129 114Fish and fish products 9.1 9.8 8.8 8.1Sugar and confectionary 16.5 16.7 16.7 15.6Vegetable oil and other fats 7.3 8.0 6.9 6.8

Nutritional value (grams per day):

Proteins 57.2 59.5 55.4 56.2

Fats 70.9 75.0 68.6 66.0

Carbohydrates 267.7 270.0 260.3 281.6

Energetic value, Ccal per day 1,946 2,001 1,887 1,956

Thus, increasing energetic value of nutrition, improvement of balance on proteins, fats and carbohydrates, as well as saturation of foodstuffs with products rich in vitamins and microelements – is one of the major tasks in the sphere of increase of well-being of children.

11

4. Characteristic of Size and Amenities of Housing Facilities, Occupied by Families with Different Number of Children

Each child has the right to housing, meeting the norms and standards on size and quality adopted in the Republic of Belarus.

A child, who is a member of the family of a tenant or owner of the housing facility, irrespectively of the place of residence shall enjoy equal right on the housing facility on same conditions as tenant or owner of the occupied facility.

Article 192 of the Republic of Belarus Code on Marriage and FamilyResearches evidence that:

In the Republic of Belarus majority of families with children live in a separate apartment (61.9%) or individual house (28%) (Table 8).

Only 48.2% of low-income families with 3 and more children, live in apartments and houses provided with hot water supply, 41.4% - do not have shower or bath-tub in their housing facility (Annexes 5 and 6).

8.6% of households with 3 and more children and 11.3% of households with 2 children live only in one room (Table 9);

In 21.4% of households with 3 and more children, there is less than 5 m2 of dwelling space on average per one dweller;

In families with children 2 persons share a room.Table 8

Distribution of Households with Children by Type of the Housing Facility(From sample household surveys data; by early 2002; in percentage)

Households with children under 18

Including those with:

1 child 2 children 3 and more

All households, including those living in: 100 100 100 100Separate apartment 61.9 64.3 59.6 60.2Shared apartment 3.9 5.3 2.7 2.0Dormitory 3.2 3.4 3.7 0.0Individual house 28.0 24.3 30.2 36.8Part of individual house 3.0 2.7 3.8 1.0

Таблица 9

Distribution of Households with Children by Number of Rooms per Person on Average (From sample household surveys data; by early 2002; in percentage)

Households with children under 18

Including those with:

1 child 2 children 3 and more

All households, of which occupy: 100 100 100 100

1 room 13.5 15.2 11.3 8.6

2 rooms 35.5 38.6 32.1 21.8

3 rooms 36.8 34.0 41.3 40.7

4 and more rooms 14.2 12.2 15.3 28.9

12

5. Characteristic of Health of Children

Children have the right to live in peaceful, safe and decent conditions.

Conditions of life of children shall provide for their comprehensive physical, mental and spiritual development.

Parents, bringing up children, shall take care about their health, physical, mental and spiritual development, involve them to feasible labor and prepare for independent life. All children have the right to protection of health and free medical assistance from the state. They are subject to dispensary care in the state health care institutions.

Article 184 of the Republic of Belarus Code on Marriage and Family

Research based on medical statistics data evidence that in the Republic of Belarus: Coefficient of infant’s mortality (number of children died aged under 12 months per 1,000

born) is considerably lower than in other CIS countries – 9.1% (in Russia 14.6%). However, this indicator is considerably higher than in highly industrialized countries (Germany - 4.4%, USA - 6.8%, Japan – 3.2%).

19.3% of children are born sick; 5.2% - with body weight below 2,500g (Table 10)

Table 10

Data on Birth and Health of the Newly Born

1990 1995 2000 2001Number of women, finished pregnancy, persons 134,469 99,356 92,856 90,258Born with low body weight (below 2,500 g), Persons Per 100 born alive

6,0524.3

5,0885.0

4,6755.0

4,6755.2

Children born sick or fallen ill (body weight 1,000 g and higher) Total number, persons In % to the newly born Including with illnesses:

- Congenital anomalies- Intrauterine hypoxia and asphyxia at delivery- Delivery injuries

17,00111.9

1.73.50.7

16,38016.0

1.95.20.5

17,85818.8

2.27.12.6

17,90019.3

2.17.02.8

Number of children died below 12 months per 10,000 newly born 119.4 133.1 93.0 91.0

Per 100,000 children in 2001 there were 142,556.1 cases of illnesses with first diagnosis, of which respiratory organs illnesses constitute 70%, 6% is taken by infectious and parasitic illnesses, 6% is accounted for by nervous system illnesses, 12% falls on traumas, skin and digestive tract diseases. Among others the following illnesses are listed: endocrine system (0.5%) neoplasm (0.1%), blood and blood vessels (0.7%), genital and urinary system (0.9%), psychical disorders (0.8%), bone and muscular tissue (0.8%) (Fig.3).

13

The following illnesses prevail amongst teenagers: respiratory system illnesses (61%), nervous system illnesses (6%), injuries and poisoning (8%), skin diseases (6%), digestive tract organs illnesses. (4%) (Fig.4)

According to experts’ estimates nowadays children and young people aged from 7 to 25 years get only 25-40% of the necessary amount of physical load. Lessons of physical culture provide only 3 hours of the 8-12 hours of physical activity during the week, necessary for normal development of children and teenagers.

Regular examinations of children under 14 revealed reduction of sharpness of eyesight in 9.5% of cases, and deformation of bearing in 7.7% of cases (Table 11).

14

Table 11

Results of regular examinations of children under 14

1990 1995 2000 2001Regular examinations of children under 14, Thousand persons Revealed (in % to the number

of examined):

- reduction in hearing sharpness- reduction in eyesight sharpness- speech defects- scoliosis- deformation of bearing

2,283.3

0.27.22.00.32.8

2,205.6

0.16.62.00.52.8

1,924.5

0.29.23.11.06.1

1,845.6

0.39.53.21.16.3

Disability or invalidity takes key place in assessment of burden of illnesses of children, taking into consideration its high extent of spreading, nature of expression and various socially important consequences.

In 2002 in the Republic of Belarus the number of persons considered disabled for the first time, amounted to 53,730 persons, of which 3,798 persons (7.1%) are the children under 17.

In 2001 the number of disabled children under 18, receiving pension from social protection bodies amounted to 29,538 persons (almost 3 times higher than in 1990 (Fig.4)).

Per 10,000 children 17.2 children are considered disabled for the first time;

More than 15,000 children, which medical professional consider “children with specific features of psychophysical development” attend specialized schools (Fig.5).

15

6. Orphan Children and Children under CareTrusteeship and guardianship agencies shall be assigned with the protection of children’s rights

and interests in case of their parents’ death, deprival and/or limitation of parents’ rights, disability, disease, lingering absence, avoidance of upbringing the children or protecting their rights and interests, including the refusal by the parents to take their children from boarding educational, health, social and other similar institutions as well as in other cases, when children have got no parents’ care.

Trusteeship and guardianship agencies look for children without parents’ care, list them and make decisions on setting up such children, taking into consideration the particular circumstances of the parents’ care loss. They also undertake further monitoring of children’s accommodation, upbringing and education.

Article116. Protection of Rights and Interests of Children without Parents’ Care

In the Republic of Belarus 36,719 orphans and children without parents’ care are accommodated either in boarding houses, or foster and adopted families (Table 13).

Table 13Total Orphans and Children without Parents’ Care

(Number of children as of the beginning of the year)

1990 1995 2000 2001 2002In boarding houses 8,551 9,189 13,911 13,995 13,942Under guardianship 10,558 7,137 13,012 13,892 12,802In adopted families 6,382 7,365 8,427 8,832 8,929In foster families 550 1,087

16

Fig.5 Schools for Children with Specific Features of Psychophysical Development (98 schools,15,634 pupils)

Auxiliary for children with specific features of psychophysical development(50 schools; 7,670 pupils)

For deaf (deaf and dumb)(8 schools, 999 pupils)

For children with consequences of poliomyelitis and cerebral paralysis(3 schools, 375 pupils)

For children with serious speech disorders(6 schools, 1,074 pupils)

For hard of hearing and those lost hearing early(8 schools, 1,194 pupils)

For blind and with poor eyesight(7 schools; 1,102 pupils)

For children with physical deformities(1 school, 70 pupils) For children with delay

in psychophysical development (14 schools, 3,027 pupils)

Other(1 schools, 123 pupils)

In 1990-2001, in the Republic of Belarus:

Children’s number in infants’ homes has increased from 1,047 up to 1,295 children and the share of children, who have had either parents or other guardians but who have stayed in infants’ homes has increased from 36% to 68%.

Number of children with physical deficiency has increased in infants’ homes from 501 to 749 children and with mental deficiency from 624 to 976 children.

Children’s number has increased from 2,008 up to 2,895 children in children’s homes and from 67 to 265 in family type children’s homes, while the number of children without parents’ care has increased from 2,823 to 5,102 children.

Number of orphans and children without parents’ care has increased by over 30%.

7. Major Forms of Government Assistance to Families with ChildrenA child shall be entitled to specific, preferential and first-priority care both on behalf of the

parents and of the State.

The State shall guarantee the protection of children’s rights both before and after delivery.

Article181. Children’s Rights Priority

Family social protection has been provided within the following legal framework: Matrimony and Family Code of the Republic of Belarus; Labor Code of the Republic of Belarus; Laws of the Republic of Belarus “On Government Allowances to Families with Children”,

“On Pension Provisioning”, “On Social Protection of Disabled People in the Republic of Belarus”, “On Social Protection of Citizens Affected by Chernobyl Nuclear Accident”, “On Social Servicing” and “On Children’s Rights”;

“Children of Belarus” Presidential Program and a number of regulatory documents.

Family protection from well-being misfortune has been a key principle of the current family policy of the Belarusian government. The government has established and provided the following forms of assistance to families with children:

In-cash allowances, Benefits to parents and children (labor, tax, housing, medical, etc.) and Social services to families.

In-cash allowances are paid to the families in the following cases: Children delivery allowance According to the Law of the Republic of Belarus “On Government Allowances to Families with Children”, the following allowances are granted:

- Pre-natal and post-natal allowance;

- one-off allowance for baby delivery. Such allowance shall be equal to twofold minimum subsistence budget. Mothers who have been registered with women’s consultation clinics before 12 weeks of pregnancy shall get an allowance equal to the minimum subsistence budget.

Baby care allowance - For the children under3 years, an allowance is paid to all families

irrespectively of their well-being. Such allowance is equal to 65% of the minimum subsistence budget for working women and 35% for non-working women;

- For the children from 3 to 16 years, targeted allowances are paid, taking into consideration the aggregate income. Such allowance is equal to 30% of the average per capita minimum subsistence budget;

- A woman who has delivered a child without getting married is paid a premium to her monthly allowance, which equals to 75% of the established allowance for the children under 18 months and 40% for the children from 18 months to 3 years;

17

- Single mothers and divorced men and women whose ex-spouses have avoided paying alimony are paid monthly premiums to the allowance, which equals to 40% of the allowance established for the child of the corresponding age group;

- Disabled parents shall get 40%-premium to the established allowance irrespectively of the aggregate income;

- Parents of labor active age who have not worked and have not got any pensions and who take care of a disabled child are paid an allowance equal to 65% of the average per capita minimum subsistence budget. The right of taking care with getting an allowance is granted: (i) until the disabled child reaches the age of ten years irrespectively of the Grade of health deterioration and (ii) to the children from 10 to 18 years with health deterioration (disability) Grades Two, Three and Four.

- Students under 18 years who have got no scholarships;

- For taking care of a sick child and

- For taking care of children with HIV/AIDS.

According to the amended Law “On Government Allowances to Families with Children”, effective from 1 April 2002, the allowances’ value shall be proportionally linked to the minimum subsistence budget, not to the minimum consumption budget as was stipulated in the previous Law. That resulted from stipulating the minimum subsistence budget as the main criteria of granting low-income status to citizens and families and establishing minimum government social guarantees in the Law “On Subsistence Minimum in the Republic of Belarus”. According to the amended Law, allowances’ values shall be reviewed on the quarterly basis respectively to the average per capita minimum subsistence budget established by the Government on the basis of prices as of the last month of each quarter and not indexed as before. In the second quarter of 2003, 688,257 children have got monthly government allowances.

Allowances to low-income households - Assistance to the children of the unemployed. The Law “On Employment of the

Population of the Republic of Belarus” stipulates granting additional employment guarantees to parents with many children, establishment of new jobs, specialized enterprises and training on special programs. Unemployed persons with dependent children under 14 years or a disabled child under 16 years shall get a 10%-bonus to their unemployment allowances and 20%-bonus, if they have more than three children (two and more disabled children) of the aforesaid age;

- Additional assistance to families with disabled children:- assistance to children under 18 years. According to the Law of the Republic of Belarus “On

Pension Provisioning”, such children shall be granted social pensions depending on their health deterioration extent, i.e. they are paid from 150% to 250% of the minimum pension on age;

- assistance to disabled children due to the loss of the bread winner. In such case the children are granted a premium to their pensions. Such premium equals to 50% of the minimum pension and

- assistance to disabled children who have doctors’ prescription to sanatorium/resort treatment. Such children category shall be granted free annual vouchers to sanatorium/resort facilities. If they don’t use the voucher, they get in-cash reimbursement equal to 10 basic values (according to the Resolution No. 1129 of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus dated 20 July 1998).

Moreover:- “Belarusian Prosthetic/Orthopedic Recuperation Center” government-owned enterprise

provisions disabled children with technological recuperation means (i.e. prosthetics, orthopedic footwear, etc.).

- Labor and social protection agencies provide additional in-cash and in-kind allowances to families with many children and incomplete families with disabled children out of the local budgets.

- A system of the targeted social assistance to most vulnerable categories of families and citizens has been effective in Belarus from 1 January 2001. Families with many children and incomplete families with children under 18 years are entitled to the targeted social assistance, given that the average per capita income in the family for the past three months preceding the month of applying for the assistance has not exceeded 60% of the average per capita minimum subsistence budget as of the date of applying for assistance.

18

In 2001-2002 and the first six months of 2003, the targeted social assistance for the total value of 8.5 bn. BYB has been granted to almost 300,000 people. Survey of the targeted social assistance confirmed the fact that specifically incomplete families and families with many children have been most vulnerable to the risk of developing poverty. Such families have comprised over 90% of the total number of the targeted social assistance beneficiaries. However, it should be stated that the system of the targeted social assistance has not completely performed poverty mitigation function in the families with children. Implementation of that task has been difficult because private business and agricultural sector have often avoided paying such allowances.

In addition to government-provided in-cash allowances families with children get additional assistance from public associations. Mainly it is rendered in the form of the humanitarian aid (clothes, foodstuffs, medicines, etc.), which has not been regular and has been rendered against applications.

Within the scope of government support of families, parents and children are entitled to the following types of benefits:

Tax benefits - According to the Law of the Republic of Belarus “On Income Tax from Individuals”, effective

from 1 January 1999 with subsequent amendments, the monies equal to twofold basic value per each child under 18 and each dependent person shall be deducted from taxable income for each month during which or for which the income has been received. The aforesaid income shall be deducted beginning from the month of the child’s birth or emergence of the dependent person and maintained till the end of the month, when the children has reached 18 years, the students has reached 23 years and when the individual has ceased to be considered a dependent person as well as till the end of the month during which the children or dependent persons have died. Income deduction shall be applied to the both parents, widow (widower), single parent, trustee or guardian taking care of the child, based on the documents which confirm the presence of the child (dependent person).

- According to the Law of the Republic of Belarus “On Land Payments”, families with many children shall be exempted from paying land tax.

Payment benefits for keeping children at pre-school institutions Payment value for keeping children at pre-school institutions are regulated by the Resolution

No. 88 of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus dated 18 February 1992, Resolution No. 543 of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus dated 6 April 1998 and Order No. 500 of the Ministry of Education “On Approval of the Provisions on the Procedure of Charging Payment for Children’s Meals at Pre-school Institutions” dated 19 August 1998. In compliance with the aforesaid regulatory documents:

- Low-income families, which aggregate per capita income level has not exceeded 20% of the average per capita minimum consumption budget of a four-member family, approved in conformity with prices in September of the year, preceding the year of applying for the exemption, shall be exempted from payments for children meals at pre-school institutions.

- Category-based approach (with no accounting of the aggregate income) shall be applied to the parents with three and more children. Payments for children meals for such family category shall be reduced by 50%.

Payment benefits for using textbooks and training manuals - According to the Resolution No. 525 of the Council of Ministers of the

Republic of Belarus dated 25 April 2002, pupils shall pay 50% of the value of the textbooks’ package for secondary schools in 2002/2003 school year. Payment value for the textbooks in 2003 is stipulated in the Resolution No. 18 of the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Belarus “On Approval of the Price Value of the Textbooks’ Package for the Pupils of preparatory and 1-11 (12) classes for 2002/2003 school year” dated 17 April 2002. Payment value for the textbooks’ package in 2003 has increased up to 50% of the total costs of textbooks’ package in 2002/2003 against 25% in 2001/2002. Category-based approach and accounting of income level per family member have been applied for exempting from payments for textbooks.

- No payments are charged from the parents or their substitutes, if their children study at:

Specialized general educative boarding schools (schools) and/or classes for the children with psychological/physical deficiencies in general educative

19

schools; Specialized schools for the children requiring specific care

conditions; General educative sanatorium-type boarding schools; General educative school of the “Zubryonak” children camp; as well as from Parents with children with psychological/physical deficiencies

educated in integrated classes; Families with one or both parents disabled with Grade One or

Grade Two disability; Families of servicemen or workers and employees who took book

positions in military units organic to the Soviet Army and either were either killed or died or were disabled as a result of fulfilling their service duties in the countries at which territory combat actions took place as well as families of servicemen who were killed or died at peace time while performing their service duties;

families of officers and GIs of the Ministry of the Interior, who were killed, died or were disabled as a result of fulfilling their service duties in the countries at which territory combat actions took place as well as families of officers and GIs who were killed or died at peace time while performing their service duties;

orphan children and children without parents’ care as well as disabled children under 18 years;

families, which average monthly aggregated income per family member for the preceding year has not exceeded 80% of the established minimum subsistence budget and

families with three and more schoolchildren shall pay 50% of the textbooks’ value.

Benefits for getting subsidized or free meals for the children - According to the Resolution No. 1477 of the Council of Ministers of the

Republic of Belarus “On Providing Free Baby Foods for the Children Under Two Years” dated 25 September 1999, the right for the free baby foods for the children under two years is granted to families with many children, incomplete families and families in which both parents are students, given that the average monthly income per family member has not exceeded 20% of the average minimum monthly consumption budget of a four-member family during the preceding quarter. Income level is estimated in compliance with the Provisions on the procedure of estimating the aggregate income per family member when granting children’s allowances, approved by the Order No. 76/959 of the Ministry of Social Protection and Ministry of Finance, dated 13 August 1997.

- According to the Resolution No. 169 of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus “On Amending the Resolution of the Council of Ministers No. 89 as of 22 February 1993 and the Resolution of the Council of Ministers No. 1520 as of 1 October 1998”, local executive and administrative agencies have the right for complete or partial exemption of schoolchildren from low-income families and other schoolchildren in need from payments for meals.

- Resolution No. 949 of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus “On Amending Some resolutions of the Government of the Republic of Belarus“, dated 15 July 2002, regulates providing free meals to some categories of children two times per day: (i) children attending after-class (‘extended-day’) groups; (ii) children studying in integrated education classes and (iii) children attending preparatory classes and boarding schools located at ordinary schools.

- Families with many children, families with the members with Grade One and/or Grade Two disability as well as children from low-income families, which average monthly per capita income during the nine months preceding the beginning of the school year has not exceeded the minimum subsistence budget as of the beginning of the school year, shall be entitled to one daily free meal for their schoolchildren. The decision is made based on the survey of the living standards of such children.

- Students of vocational and technical schools with the training course exceeding 10 months shall be entitled to one daily free meal and the students from low-income families – to three daily free meals. 26,139.2 mln. BYB were allocated for those purposes in 2002.

- Schoolchildren and students of vocational and technical schools from the areas affected as a result of the Chernobyl nuclear accident are entitled to free meals.

20

- According to the Resolution No. 1520 of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus as of 1 October 1998, all schoolchildren who don’t get free meals are entitled to subsidized meals by paying 4% of the basic value of such meals per schoolboy (schoolgirl).

21

Benefits for housing provisioning - According to the Resolution No. 571 of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Belarus

as of 24 April 2000, low-income families are entitled to non-cash housing subsidies, if the total payments for the utility services in accordance with the established standards of their use and for the (technical) maintenance of the housing and the charges for overall repairs of housing within the established standards for the use of housing, taking into account the existing benefits, has not exceeded 25% of the average monthly aggregated income of the family. This benefit is applied to the families living at the territory of Belarus in the housing, belonging to the government-owned and private housing fund and in hostels. Income level is estimated in compliance with the Provisions on estimating family aggregated income when granting non-cash housing subsidies, issued by the Ministry of Labor (No. 05-1-9/2353 as of 20 December 1994), Ministry of the Economy (No. 25/1-1171 as of 20 December 1994), Ministry of the Statistics and Analysis (No. 01-22/24 as of 20 December 1994) and Ministry of Finance (No. 03-1/944 as of 20 December 1994).

Social services are rendered to families in the form of:

health/social services,

psychological services,

pedagogical services and

social counseling services.

22

ConclusionThe undertaken survey provides drawing a conclusion that:

Provision of high living standards has been an important issue for the Republic of Belarus: over 50% of social polls’ respondents top-rated it in the proposed list of 15 most acute social/economic issues;

Poverty issue is an integral part of a comprehensive problem of living standards. This may be proven by the fact that 24.7% (almost a quarter!) of all Belarusian households belong to low-income households.

Families with children (given their heavy dependency burden) are more vulnerable to poverty risk.

There are 2,832,300 families in Belarus, including 1,445,100 families with children under18 years.

36% of families with children belong to low-income families and 3.2% of families belong to extremely poor families.

Nutrition is a comprehensive component of well-being evaluation of families with children. Given that all families with children spend on food 49.2% of their total budget and low-income families spend 54%, it means that their well-being has been at a low level. Of biggest concern is the fact that daily energy value of food in the families with children has been under 2,000 kilocalories and in low-income families it has been 1,946 kilocalories (1,887 and 1,894kilocalories in Brest and Vitebsk Oblasts, correspondingly).

Living standards of families with children require improvement as there have been two dwellers per room in the families with children.

Provisioning with household appliances and means of communication in families with children has been almost the same as in families without children and has had no correlation to the number of children in a family. However, such appliances’ long-life has been the issue. Moreover, it should be noted that in IT century such families have been poorly equipped with data technologies (3 units per 100 households);

Children health indicators should undergo social monitoring and practical measures on overcoming their negative development tendencies should be introduced. According to the survey, 9.1% infant mortality index in Belarus has been much higher than in the developed countries (4.4% in Germany, 6% in the US and 3.2% in Japan), though it was much lower than in other CIS countries (14.6% in Russia). 19.3% of newly-born children have been ill and the total number of disabled children has increased threefold during the past decade.

During the past decade the number of orphans and children without parents’ care has increased by over 30%. This requires high public attention to the development of boarding schools, promotion of fostering and adoption and – most importantly – to the reversal of the negative trend of the growing number of divorces and alcohol-addict parents, elimination of the reasons for family collapses and emergence of orphans whose parents are still alive.

Herein highlighted issues should be reviewed in more detail and considered not only within the framework of the government programs of supporting well-being of families with children but through collaboration of all public institutions under the slogan of comprehensive and genuine support to the families and upgrading of their public status.

Further survey of the issue should be carried out at the following directions:

Self-evaluation of their well-being by the children of different age groups – methodology development and sociological survey undertaking;

reflection of additional factors generating the level of children’s well-being, plotting of correlation models;

evaluation of children’s participation in family well-being generation – methodology development and survey undertaking;

quality of children’s nutrition as to its safety to life and health;

mother’s health as a prerequisite of delivery a healthy child – general assessment of the issue;

23

sexual education of children within the framework of reproductive health generation;

factors influencing children’s health and causing major diseases;

modern forms of recuperation of sick and disabled children, international experience, analysis and application opportunities;

studying correlation between indicators’ dynamics of family collapses, growth of crime, drug addiction and alcoholism among teenagers;

neglect of care for the children – notification, prevention, approaches to the consideration of the issue;

fostering and adoption – processes’ status, methods of well-being monitoring of adopted and fostered children;

social services to families with children – international experience in implementation, modern forms and beneficial trends in the Republic of Belarus;

NGOs and children – all aspects of the issue;

Intentions and opportunities in getting education and

Life values and their transformation at different phases of human life cycle – methodology development and monitoring of evaluation by teenagers.

24

Annex 1Consumption expenses structure in households with children in 2002

(based on households’ selective survey data)

Households with children under 18 years

including households with:

1 child 2 children 3 and more children

Total consumption expenses 100% 100% 100% 100%including:Purchasing of food 46.9% 46.8% 46.6% 50.8%Including expenditure for:Bread and bakery products 9.0% 8.2% 9.7% 15.6%Potatoes 0.6% 0.6% 0.5% 0.7%Vegetables and cucurbits 2.1% 2.2% 2.0% 2.2%Fruits and vegetables 2.5% 2.6% 2.3% 1.7%Meat and meat products 14.9% 15.5% 14.0% 12.4%Fish and fish products 2.9% 3.0% 2.8% 3.0%Milk and dairy products 7.4% 7.4% 7.5% 6.2%Sugar and confectionary 2.5% 2.4% 2.7% 3.4%Eggs 1.2% 1.2% 1.2% 1.1%Vegetable oil and other fats 1.5% 1.4% 1.6% 2.4%Tea, coffee and soft drinks 1.5% 1.5% 1.5% 1.3%Other alimentary products 0.8% 0.8% 0.8% 0.8%Meals outside (public catering) 2.3% 2.5% 2.1% 1.5%Expenditure for:Alcohol drinks 2.4% 2.4% 2.3% 2.2%Tobacco products 1.5% 1.6% 1.4% 1.4%Clothes, footwear, underwear and fabric 11.7% 11.4% 12.2% 11.8%Fragrances 2.3% 2.4% 2.1% 1.4%Household appliances and furniture 5.0% 5.0% 5.1% 4.2%Expenditure for: Health 2.6% 2.7% 2.5% 1.9%Housing and utilities 7.1% 7.1% 7.1% 7.8%Transport and communication 10.0% 9.9% 10.5% 8.8%Education, leisure, recreation and sports 4.2% 4.4% 3.9% 3.4%Other goods and services 4.0% 3.8% 4.2% 4.8%

25

Annex 2

Consumption expenses structure in low-income households with children in 2002 (based on households’ selective survey data)

Households with children under 18

years

including households with:

1child 2 children 3 and more children

Total consumption expenses 100% 100% 100% 100%including:Purchasing of food 52.8% 53.4% 51.8% 53.9%Including expenditure for:Bread and bakery products 13.4% 12.5% 13.3% 17.4%Potatoes 0.8% 0.8% 0.7% 0.8%Vegetables and cucurbits 2.1% 2.2% 2.1% 2.0%Fruits and vegetables 1.6% 1.6% 1.6% 1.4%Meat and meat products 14.8% 16.1% 13.8% 12.9%Fish and fish products 2.9% 2.9% 2.8% 2.9%Milk and dairy products 8.6% 8.8% 8.9% 7.1%Sugar and confectionary 2.9% 2.7% 3.0% 3.4%Eggs 1.5% 1.5% 1.5% 1.3%Vegetable oil and other fats 2.2% 2.3% 2.1% 2.6%Tea, coffee and soft drinks 1.2% 1.2% 1.2% 1.3%Other alimentary products 0.8% 0.8% 0.8% 0.8%Meals outside (public catering) 1.2% 1.1% 1.2% 1.3%Expenditure for:Alcohol drinks 2.0% 2.0% 1.9% 2.0%Tobacco products 1.6% 1.8% 1.5% 1.6%Clothes, footwear, underwear and fabric 11.6% 10.9% 12.5% 11.3%Fragrances 1.9% 2.0% 2.0% 1.4%Household appliances and furniture 3.5% 3.2% 3.7% 3.8%Expenditure for:Health 2.1% 2.3% 2.1% 1.7%Housing and utilities 9.9% 9.9% 10.1% 9.3%Transport and communication 7.1% 7.0% 7.2% 7.2%Education, leisure, recreation and sports 3.2% 3.1% 3.3% 2.9%Other goods and services 3.1% 3.3% 2.7% 3.6%

26

Annex 3Consumption, nutritional and energy value of food in households with children under

18 years by Oblasts in 2002 (based on households’ selective survey data; average indicators per household member)

Oblasts Brest Vitebsk Gomel Grodno City of Minsk Minsk Mogilev

Major foodstuffs consumption (kilograms per year) Bread and bakery products 92.4 98.7 98.7 89.5 77.2 99.9 101.7Potatoes 77.8 82.5 81.4 78.0 49.0 80.4 77.5Vegetables and cucurbits 64.7 64.1 61.5 69.7 65.6 69.8 64.7Fruits and vegetables 33.6 34.3 34.1 36.4 55.5 37.3 32.0Meat and meat products 41.2 38.6 44.3 50.6 60.0 48.4 44.2Milk and dairy products 223.1 234.2 237.6 250.1 252.4 259.3 239.8Eggs (pcs) 141 156 163 164 179 162 168Fish and fish products 12.3 11.4 11.5 12.7 14.3 13.3 13.0Sugar and confectionary 17.9 21.7 24.9 16.9 20.0 20.2 23.5Vegetable oil and other fats 8.1 8.6 8.7 8.4 7.5 7.7 9.2Nutritional value (grams per day): Proteins 64.1 66.8 68.4 70.7 71.8 72.5 69.9including proteins in animal-originating products 31.6 31.8 34.0 38.5 44.1 37.3 34.7Fats 84.5 82.2 89.7 95.2 92.6 92.2 91.1including fats in animal-originating products 56.4 51.7 58.7 66.3 63.3 63.8 58.8Carbohydrates 281.5 304.3 311.3 278.2 247.7 305.9 312.1including carbohydrates in animal-originating products 11.4 11.2 12.2 13.1 11.4 13.1 12.5Energy value (kilocalories per day) 2,150 2,231 2,330 2,261 2,113 2,350 2,352

27

Annex 4Consumption, nutritional and energy value of food in low-income households with

children under 18 years by Oblasts in 2002 (based on households’ selective survey data; average indicators per household member)

Oblasts Brest Vitebsk Gomel Grodno Minsk Mogilev

Major foodstuffs consumption (kilograms per year)Bread and bakery products 88.0 98.3 96.9 83.9 94.9 97.8Potatoes 77.1 74.0 81.1 70.4 79.5 78.5Vegetables and cucurbits 54.5 45.0 48.8 54.9 56.8 52.1Fruits and vegetables 25.2 17.3 19.4 24.5 24.3 20.0Meat and meat products 29.0 25.3 30.0 37.6 33.6 30.3Milk and dairy products 192.2 175.4 194.1 198.6 219.9 188.8Eggs (pcs) 116 108 128 134 139 137Fish and fish products 9.8 8.2 7.9 9.0 9.8 9.8Sugar and confectionary 14.4 16.3 22.0 12.6 16.0 18.2Vegetable oil and other fats 6.9 7.7 7.9 7.1 6.4 8.4

Nutritional value (grams per day):Proteins 54.5 55.0 57.2 58.6 60.7 58.8including proteins in animal-originating products 23.9 21.8 24.5 29.1 27.9 25.3Fats 69.2 63.3 71.4 76.6 73.5 72.9including fats in animal-originating products 45.8 37.7 44.2 53.0 50.2 44.5Carbohydrates 259.4 273.9 292.2 244.5 278.9 283.0including carbohydrates in animal-originating products 10.6 9.0 10.8 11.3 12.0 10.5Energy value (kilocalories per day) 1,887 1,894 2,045 1,911 2,029 2,031

28

References

1. Войтов А.Г.Экономика. Общий курс (Фундаментальная теория экономики)-М.: Информационно-внедренческий центр «Маркетинг»,2000.-584с.

2. Макконнелл. К.Р.Брю, С.Л. Экономикс: принципы, проблемы и политика. – М.:ИНФРА-М,2002.-ХХХУ1, 972с.

3. Закон Republic of Belarus «О правах ребенка»

4. Кодекс Republic of Belarus «О браке и семье».

5. Маркусенко Л.Н. О минимальном потребительском бюджете // Человек и экономика. – 1996. – № 6–7.

6. Рынок труда и социальная политика в Центральной и Восточной Европе. Переходный период и дальнейшее развитие. Пер. с англ. – М.: ИКЦ «ДИС», 1997.– 496 с.

7.Шахотько Л.П. Население Беларуси на рубеже веков // Белорусский экономический журнал. – 1999. – № 1.– С. 23–33.

8. Экономика труда и социально-трудовые отношения: Учебник для вузов / Под редакцией Колосовой Р.П. и Меликьяна Г.Г. - М.: Изд.-во Московского университета, 1996. - 623 с.

9. The Essence of Hayek. Stanford, 1984; Хайек Ф. Пагубная самонадеянность. Ошибки социализма. М., 1992.

29