In the article "Large families and poverty in Austria: What explains their disproportionate risk of experiencing income poverty?", published in the International Journal of Social Welfare, Karin Heitzmann and Astrid Pennerstorfer analyse the reasons for the disproportionate risk of poverty among large families (with 3 or more children) in Austria. Specifically, large families in the years 2017-2019 (the period under investigation) had a 12% higher risk of poverty. The search for the causes shows that it is not so much the number of children in the household that influences the the risk of poverty, but rather the combination of specific characteristics (labour intensity, migration background, age of the youngest child and place of residence) in these households. Even if welfare benefits do reduce the risk of poverty in large families, they are not enough to prevent poverty.

Link (Open Access): https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/ijsw.12667