Of the 12 countries for which data are available, child benefits absorb between 0.1 and 0.9 per cent of GDP However, in six of them this ratio declined between 2000 and 2004-2006 (UNICEF, 2009). Thus, while the communist social protection systems had a far greater impact on income inequality than in Latin America, the last decade has seen a steady erosion of this initial advantage. For instance, the probability that a child from the bottom decile completes secondary education in relation to that of a child of the top decile rose on average from 36.7 per cent to 50 per cent between 1990 and 2005.