Legal coverage of the child benefit system

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Quick info
Data type Numeric
Scale Metric
Value labels Not applicable
Technical name fam_cben_cov_groups
Category Family and gender policies
Label De jure coverage of the child benefit system.
Related indicators NA (no information available)

The variable comprises an index with a value between 0 and 1. Ideally, a measure of legal coverage considers the share of children or families that are covered by the child benefit system based on the national composition of the population and labor force. However, due to the limited availability of comparable data on national labor force composition across countries and over time, the GDCB employs an index-based proxy to offer an indicative measure of coverage. The index captures the extent to which a child benefit system is restrictive or inclusive in its legal eligibility criteria—ranging from 'most selective' (i.e., limited to narrow occupational groups) to 'universal' coverage. The index is calculated based on the cumulative score of citizenship- or residency-based child benefits and employment-based child benefits available in each country.


Coding rules

The scores are calculated using several dimensions of the child benefit system which are assigned the following weights:

Citizenship-/residency-based child benefits: - Universal: 1.0 - Means-tested/Income-tested, employment vulnerability: 0.4 - Means-tested/poverty targeted (PMT, CBT): 0.2

Employment-based - Agriculture: 0.15 - Industry: 0.15 - Commerce: 0.15 - Self-employed: 0.15

For citizenship-/residency-based programs, the degree of means-testing serves as an indicator of the restrictiveness of access. Programs with stringent targeting mechanisms are scored lower, while those that are universally available to citizens or residents without means-testing receive higher values. For employment-based benefits, the index considers the presence or absence of entitlement across distinct employment groups (e.g., agricultural workers or self-employed). Because the dataset does not include country-specific labor force distribution data, equal weighting is applied to each group. This approach ensures that the index reflects the breadth—rather than depth—of legal entitlement within the system.

It is important to note that the legal coverage index does not account for the degree of overlap or mutual exclusivity among eligible groups. A value of 1 is assigned in cases where child benefits are universal—that is, provided to all families or caregivers irrespective of employment status, income, or other qualifying conditions. In such instances, it is assumed that no substantive eligibility restrictions apply, and therefore the legal coverage is complete. In systems where both employment-based and citizenship- or residency-based benefits coexist—and where the latter is means-tested based on income—the index also assigns a value of 1, based on the assumption that the combination of both schemes is functionally universal. That is, taken together, the two components are presumed to cover the full spectrum of the labor force and population, albeit through differentiated mechanisms. Conversely, the lowest scores on the index are attributed to citizen/residency-based child benefits which rely on poverty-targeting mechanisms, including proxy means-testing or community-based targeting. These mechanisms share the assumption that only a narrowly defined subset of the population—those meeting poverty or vulnerability thresholds—are eligible to receive support. As a result, such programs are scored accordingly to reflect their restrictive coverage.


Bibliographic info

Citation: Tran, Anh, Simone Tonelli, Martin Gurín, Tobias Böger, Keonhi Son, Aysegül Kayaoglu and Sonja Drobnič. 2025. Codebook of the Global Dataset of Child Benefits (GDCB), SFB 1342, Technical Paper Series/19/2025, Bremen: CRC 1342.


Related publications: Tonelli, Simone, Tobias Böger, Keonhi Son, Petra Buhr, Sonja Drobnič, and Johannes Huinink. 2021. Codebook of Historical Dataset of Child Benefit (HDCB). Bremen: SFB 1342. https://media.suub.uni-bremen.de/handle/elib/5939.



Misc

Project manager(s): Anh Tran, Simone Tonelli, Martin Gurín, Tobias Böger, Keonhi Son, Aysegül Kayaoglu and Sonja Drobnič (A06)


Data release: Version 0.004: Fourth release


Revisions: This codebook is an updated version of the publication: Tonelli, Simone, Tobias Böger, Keonhi Son, Petra Buhr, Sonja Drobnič, and Johannes Huinink. 2021. Codebook of Historical Dataset of Child Benefit (HDCB). Bremen: SFB 1342. https://media.suub.uni-bremen.de/handle/elib/5939.

Sources

Below is a list of common sources used to gather information on multiple countries. For country-specific sources and calculations, please refer to the Codebook of the Global Dataset of Child Benefits (Tran et al. Forthcoming).

  • Gauthier, Anne H. 2011. Comparative Family Policy Database, Version 3 [computer file]. Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute and Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research (distributors). www.demogr.mpg.de
  • Social Security Administration. Various years. Social Security Programs Throughout the World. Washington, DC: Government Printing Office. 1949-1999 reports: https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/003924614 2001-2019 reports: https:// www.ssa.gov/policy/docs/progdesc/ssptw
  • United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean. Non-Contributory Social Protection Programmes in Latin America and the Caribbean Database. Santiago de Chile: UN ECLAC – Social Development Division. https://dds.cepal.org/bpsnc/home.
  • UNU-WIDER. 2018. Social Assistance, Politics, and Institutions (SAPI) database [online]. Helsinki: United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER). /project/sapi-social-assistance-politics-and-institutions-database.
  • Waggaman, Mary T. Family Allowances in Foreign Countries: Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, No. 401. Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office. https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/4026
  • Waggaman, Mary T. Family Allowances in 1937 and 1938, 48 Monthly Lab. Rev. 1026 (1939)
  • Wagemann, Mary T. Family Allowances in Various Countries, 1944-45: Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics, No. 853. Washington: U.S. Government Printing Office. https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/title/4319
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