One In Six Children Lives Below Poverty Line Globally: UNICEF

News Desk

Islamabad: One out of every six children worldwide (nearly 333 million) lives below the poverty line and if this number continues to increase, the Sustainable Development Goals to end child poverty by 2030 will not be achieved, according to a new study.

UNICEF and the World Bank conducted a recent analysis revealing that about 90 per cent of the world’s children below the poverty line are found in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

According to the International Poverty Lines, the report entitled ‘Global Trends in Child Monetary Poverty’ states that from 2013 to 2022, the number of children living on less than $2.15 a day declined from 38.3 million to 33.3 million.

The analysis is released ahead of the high-level meeting of the United Nations General Assembly (scheduled for September 18–22), during which leaders from around the world will come together to discuss a range of key issues, including sustainable development progress towards development goals.

A staggering 333 million children struggle to survive on less than $2.15 a day.

We can, and must, end child poverty once and for all.

— UNICEF (@UNICEF) September 13, 2023

More than half of the world’s extremely poor people are children, even though children make up only one-third of the total global population.

Children are more than twice as likely as adults to experience extreme poverty, with 15.8 per cent of children living in households where they lack access to food, clean water, adequate housing, health care, and education. There is a lack of essentials, such as access to resources, which are essential for their well-being and development.

The geographical distribution of children living in extremely poor households shows that sub-Saharan Africa have the highest rate of children living in extreme poverty at 40 per cent in 2022.

Efforts to reduce child poverty have been delayed by 3 years due to the negative economic impact of COVID-19. It will be critical to support the 33.3 million children living in poverty and address the root causes of poverty.

We need to understand who these poor children are, what they need, where they live, and why existing policies to reduce child poverty are not working. By finding answers to these questions, we can formulate appropriate policies and strategies.

In South Asia, the rate of children living in extreme poverty in 2022 was 9.7 per cent (62 million) which is 18.6 per cent of the world’s extremely poor children.

333 million children, one in six of the world's child population, live in extreme poverty, according to a report by UNICEF and the World Bank https://t.co/TEE8nWrLu8 pic.twitter.com/9wdJnLcC2T

— Anadolu English (@anadoluagency) September 14, 2023

United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Executive Director Catherine Russell emphasised that complex crises such as the impact of COVID-19, climate change and economic challenges have halted our development, and millions of children are suffering from poverty.

There are several factors contributing to the significant increase in the number of children living below the poverty line, including rapid population growth, a lack of adequate social protection measures, and global challenges such as the impact of COVID-19 and disasters related to climate change.

Meanwhile, all other regions in the world have seen a steady decline in extreme poverty rates, with the exception of the Middle East and North Africa.

“We cannot let these children down. There is a need to formulate policies for the eradication of poverty. We need to step up efforts to ensure that all children have access to critical services such as education, nutrition, health care and social support,” Catherine added.