Integral Assessments of Child Well-Being

The article presents the results of developing and testing an integral assessment of the well-being of children in Russia. The authors build on an approach used by international organizations such as UNICEF and the OECD, which defines child well-being as a set of parameters that influence the lives of children now and in the future. Particular attention is paid to solving the research question of what indicators, given the availability and reliability of the empirical base, should be presented in the index of child well-being to cha- racterize its economic component. The Statistical Index of Child Well-Being (SICW), proposed by the authors, includes 27 indicators based on official statistics and the results of sample surveys of Rosstat, which allow for assessing the level of well-being of children in the regions of Russia. Each of the 27 indicators can be attributed to a specific domain and a specific type of results. The SICW's «material well-being» domain includes six indicators and indicators reflecting the availability of resources for a child and his family to achieve the ultimate goals of his development. The paper presents the results of testing the «material well-being» subindex based on data for 2020–2022 at the regional level. They make it possible to analyze the dynamics of this subindex, compare the levels of economic well-being of children in Russian regions, objectively evaluate achievements and highlight problems in ensuring children's well-being in general.