By Saminu Ibrahim
Abuja
No fewer than 180 million youth in 37 countries are more likely to exist in extreme poverty, be out of school or killed by violence, than children in those same countries 20 years ago, the United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) said yesterday.
In a new report released yesterday to coincide with World Children’s Day, UNICEF said despite global progress, one in 12 children live in countries with prospects more limited than those of their parents.
“While the last generation has seen vast, unprecedented gains in living standards for most of the world’s children, the fact that a forgotten minority of children have been excluded from this – through no fault of their own or those of their families – is a travesty,” UNICEF’s Director of Data, Research and Policy, Laurence Chandy, said.
“It is the hope of every parent, everywhere, to provide greater opportunities for their children than they themselves enjoyed when they were young. This World Children’s Day, we have to take stock of how many children are instead seeing opportunities narrow and their prospects diminish.”
In assessing the prospect of children in escaping extreme poverty, getting a basic education and avoiding violent deaths, among other things, the UNICEF analysis showed that the share of people living on less than $1.90 a day had increased in 14 countries mostly due to unrest, conflicts or poor governance.
It also revealed that due to financial crises, rapid population growth and the impact of conflicts, primary school enrolment has declined in 21 countries; violent deaths among children below the age of 19 have increased in seven conflict-ridden countries; and that four countries witnessed a decline across more than one of the three areas measured.
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