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The paper analyzes the effects of the difficult economic times and the current global economic crisis on the well-being of children and young people in Macedonia. It also tends to provide an assessment of the vulnerability of those families most at risk in difficult economic times. Hence, the analysis is focused on three important aspects: living standards among households, as well as education and health of children and young people during the period between 2008 and 2009. The paper uses the research data and results undertaken within the UNICEF study on the Children and Young people in difficult economic times (2009). The study was focused on more vulnerable households in the country, by analyzing equivalent number of households among four ethnic communities, i.e. Macedonians, Albanians, Turks and Roma. The paper identifies that the economic crisis has increased the previous difficult living conditions among the most vulnerable households in Macedonia. This had negative effect on households possibilities to provide their children with regular and unrestricted access to basic needs in relation to education and health. The paper also outlines that the social protection scheme in Macedonia is not adequately framed to provide for increased needs of vulnerable population during times of economic constraints.
Keywords: economic crisis, vulnerable households, Roma children, social protection
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