Street Children and Their Macro Determinants

Abstract

This paper is based on the results of a survey carried out simultaneously in 20 cities of the State of Minas Gerais in 2007. This research intended to survey all children and teenagers up to 18 years old who were living or exercising any type of work on the streets of these cities at different times of the day and night (morning, afternoon or evening) during one week of reference. The paper analyzed the impact of some characteristics of each municipality on the number of street children found. Through multivariate linear regression, the proportion of children and teenagers in street situation was correlated with different Municipal Human Development Indexes (HDI-M) and their various components. The results were significant, particularly with regard to the variables "adults' level of schooling" and "longevity". We concluded that there seems to be specific community factors or characteristics that increase or not the number of children working on the streets.