近十餘年來西方國家重視兒童貧窮現象，且已經有許多的相關研究與政策因應。然而，臺灣地區官方至今並無針對兒少貧窮的相關數據，學術界也尚無正式的估計。基於此，本研究採用主計處「家庭收支調查」1991至2005年原始資料，以家戶可支配所得中位數的一半作爲貧窮線，分析具有18歲以下兒少家戶的貧窮現象。研究發現兒少貧戶率低於總家戶的平均，更明顯低於老人貧戶率。若根據老幼貧窮比的計算，也未呈現「貧窮兒少化」現象，反而在2002年之後具有「貧窮高齡化」的傾向。若觀察「單親戶」與「雙親與未成年子女戶」這兩類「有兒少家戶」的貧窮率，相對於全體家戶也沒有發現惡化的趨勢。進一步檢視「有兒少家戶」戶長性別差異，發現女性戶長家戶貧窮率明顯偏高，並經多變項邏輯迴歸分析，發現「戶長性別」淨影響較「家庭型態」爲重要；具體來說，兒少生活於「女戶長家戶」比生活於「男戶長家戶」多了60-70%的機率會落入貧窮。雖然在台灣兒少貧窮不論絕對或相對水準尚未形成重要議題，但了解過去15年兒少貧窮的主要因素，有助於政策擬定方向，可避免步西方工業國家之後塵。

Due to a general lack of information regarding children’s poverty rates in Taiwan, the goal of this research is to estimate those rates using The Survey of Family Income and Expenditure (SFIE) data collected between 1991 and 2005. The poverty line is defined as one-half the median of disposable income for all Taiwanese families. This analysis indicates that poverty rates among households with children were consistently lower than those among all households and elderly households. Using a poverty ratio with elderly and overall households as reference groups, the data fail to support the "juvenilization of poverty" hypothesis in Taiwan. The analysis also indicates that children living with female single parents were more likely to be living below the poverty line than those living with both parents. Finally, results from binary logit models show that the net effects of female heads of households on the chances of living in poverty were statistically significant over the fifteen-year period, and that those effects were more important than the net effects of single-parent families. All other factors being equal, children living in households headed by females were 60-70 percent more likely to be living below the poverty line than children living in households headed by males. It is hoped that these findings will help Taiwanese policy makers prevent the juvenilization of poverty trends experienced by Western industrialized countries.