UNITED NATIONS: A new report jointly released by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Bank reveals that one in every six children worldwide is living on less than $2.15 a day.
The study indicates that 333 million children are trapped in extreme poverty, marking a decline of nearly 50 million over the past decade. Nevertheless, the report emphasizes that the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and ongoing conflicts, climate change, and economic disruptions has hindered progress in eradicating child poverty.
Catherine Russell, UNICEF Executive Director, stressed the need for intensified efforts to grant all children access to vital services like education, nutrition, healthcare, and social protection while addressing the underlying causes of extreme poverty. She underscored the situation’s urgency, stating, “We cannot fail these children now.”
The report underscores that globally, children constitute more than half of the extremely poor population despite comprising only a third of the world’s population.
Nearly 90% of children in extreme poverty are in sub-Saharan Africa or South Asia. Sub-Saharan Africa, in particular, has witnessed a sharp increase, with a 40% rate in 2022 and over 71% of the world’s extremely poor children, up significantly from just under 55% a decade ago. The report attributes this surge to rapid population growth and insufficient social protection measures.
Children living in rural areas and households with poorly educated heads face a disproportionately greater impact from extreme poverty. Approximately one in three children reside in extremely impoverished families in conflict-affected countries, compared to one in ten in non-fragile states.
The report delivers a grim warning that at the current pace of reduction, the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) of ending extreme child poverty by 2030 (SDG 1) will not be achieved. UN rights chief Volker Turk had previously labeled the insufficient progress towards this goal as a “terrible collective human rights failure” at the Human Rights Council earlier this week.
The issue is expected to be a prominent topic during the High-level Week of the UN General Assembly from September 18 to 22, where global leaders will discuss progress towards the SDGs at the midpoint. Kicking off the high-level week, an SDG Summit aims to expedite action on all 17 Goals and is anticipated to adopt a political declaration. —APP
