OSLO, Aug. 10 (Xinhua) -- Recent statistics from he Norwegian Directorate for Children, Youth and Family Affairs (Bufdir) have shown that more children live in families with persistently low incomes, newspaper Aftenposten reported on Saturday.
According to data obtained in 2017, there was a slight increase in the proportion of children in families with persistently low incomes in over 60 percent of the country's municipalities.
A total of 105,538 children, or 10.7 percent nationwide, lived in families with persistently low income in 2017.
The figure represents an increase of 0.4 percentage point from the previous year, when 101,000 children lived in families with persistently low income, Aftenposten reported.
The statistics also showed that about one in three children living in low-income families lived in one of the largest cities in Norway.
Marianne Borgen, the mayor of Oslo, told the newspaper that the government was contributing to the increased differences.
"It's a national shame and a democratic problem," Borgen told Aftenposten.
"This is a crisis which the government is ignoring. By giving tax relief to the richest, and by cutting benefits to the poorest, they contribute to increased differences," she said.
Borgen believed that the increased differences led to exclusion, poor health and difficult upbringing conditions for the individual family.
She also expressed worry that the growing differences will weaken society as a whole, and fears confidence will fade and create unsafe communities if development continues.
"All children should have the opportunity to participate in important communities where they can build friendship and trust. Being excluded from important communities can result in a feeling of not being good enough," she told the newspaper.
According to the mayor, the main change must occur as a result of interaction between national authorities and the municipalities.
