February 2024 – This policy brief issued by the International Labour Organization, UNICEF, and the Learning for Well-Being Institute provides a resource for countries looking to enhance an existing child benefit policy or establish a universal child benefit.
Universal child benefits (UCBs) act as the foundation for a comprehensive and adequate system of child social protection. Paid as regular cash or tax transfers to families for their dependent children (see below for full definition), they constitute a core type of social protection policy that can effectively reduce disparities in child social protection coverage, reduce child poverty and generate positive returns on public investment, both within and across countries.
This brief explains what UCBs are, catalogues where and on what terms they currently exist around the world, reviews the existing evidence on how UCBs contribute to child poverty reduction and other goals, identifies specific design considerations to create an optimally designed UCB policy and outlines the goals that UCBs can help to meet when designed well.