Unless the world focuses more on the most disadvantaged children, 69 million children under five will die from mostly preventable causes, 167 million children will live in poverty and 750 million women will have been married as children by 2030, according to a UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) report.
‘The State of the World's Children' 2016 highlights progress in getting children into school, alleviating poverty and halving under-five mortality rates, but it stresses that this progress has been "neither even nor fair.”
28 June 2016: Unless the world focuses more on the most disadvantaged children, 69 million children under five will die from mostly preventable causes, 167 million children will live in poverty and 750 million women will have been married as children by 2030, according to a UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) report. ‘The State of the World’s Children’ 2016 highlights progress in getting children into school, alleviating poverty and halving under-five mortality rates, but it stresses that this progress has been “neither even nor fair.”
Sub-Saharan Africa has the worst outlook, according to the report, which finds that two in three children in the region live in multi-dimensional poverty and lack what they need to survive and develop. If current trends continue, nine out of ten children in sub-Saharan Africa will live in extreme poverty by 2030, and more than half of the 60 million children of primary age will still be out of school. In addition, the report projects that nearly half of sub-Saharan Africa’s 69 million children will die before their fifth birthday from mostly preventable causes.
Although education can help to level the playing field for children, the report finds that the number of children who do not attend school has increased since 2011. The report further finds that those who do go to school are not learning, with nearly two in five children who finish primary school unable to read, write or do simple arithmetic. Still, on average, each additional year of education a child receives increases her adult earning by approximately 10% and the country’s poverty rate falls by 9%, according to the report.
“Denying hundreds of millions of children a fair chance in life does more than threaten their futures – by fueling intergenerational cycles of disadvantage, it imperils the future of their societies,” UNICEF Executive Director Anthony Lake said on the release of the Fund’s annual flagship report. He stressed, “We have a choice: Invest in these children now or allow our world to become still more unequal and divided.”
Inequality is not inevitable, the report stresses, arguing that investing in equity “is a practical and strategic imperative.” The report proposes focusing public spending and programmes on the most disadvantaged children to enable each child to have an equal chance. The report recommends integrated solutions to challenges faced by children and innovative ways to address old problems. It underscores the role of better data on the most vulnerable children and calls for more equitable investment and increased community involvement to level the playing field for children around the world. The report elaborates on information, integration, investment, innovation, and involvement as “pathways to equity.” [UN Press Release] [UNICEF Press Release] [UNRIC Press Release] [Publication: State of the World’s Children 2016]