table c also suggests that gdp per capita shares a positive and significant association with the relative child poverty rate implying that child poverty is higher when gdp per capita is higher table c columns to however this association only appears once measures of social spending and the share of social spending targeted at the poorest households are included in the model specification with gdp per capita sharing no clear association with the child poverty rate if these measures are omitted this suggests that the association between gdp per capita and child poverty depends on the level of social expenditure per capita and the level of targeting present in social protection systems both the level of social expenditure per capita and the share of social spending directed at the poorest of households share negative associations with the relative child poverty rate table c columns to