New study shows one billion children in poverty
Posted: 14 Nov 2003
Drawing from the largest, most accurate survey sample of children ever assembled, a new UNICEF-sponsored report has found that over one billion children (more than half of those living in developing countries) suffer from the severe effects of poverty and 674 million (over a third) are living in conditions of absolute poverty.
Using a pioneering methodology, the survey measures the extent of child poverty, not only in terms of income, but also of deprivation of basic human rights such as shelter, food, water, sanitation, health, education and information. The researchers analysed survey data on nearly 1.2 million children from 46 countries collected mainly during the late 1990's.
Over one billion children suffer from the severe effects of poverty and 674 million are living in conditions of absolute poverty.
© UNICEF
The data is published in the UNICEF-comissioned report, Child Poverty in the Developing World. The research team included Dave Gordon of the Centre for International Poverty Research at the University of Bristol and Peter Townsend of the London School of Economics.
Dave Gordon, Professor of Social Justice at the University of Bristol and one of the authors of the report, Child poverty in the developing world, says: "Many of the children surveyed who were living in absolute poverty will have died or had their health profoundly damaged by the time the report is published, as a direct consequence of their appalling living conditions. Many others will have had their development so severely impaired that they may be unable to escape from a lifetime or grinding poverty."
The researchers found that:
Over six hundred million (34 per cent) children are living in dwellings with more than five people per room or which have a mud floor;
Over half a billion children (31 per cent) have no kind of toilet facility;
Nearly 376 million (20 per cent) of children use unsafe water sources or have more than a 15-minute walk to water;
134 million children aged between 7 and 18 (13 per cent) have never been to school;
91 million children under 5 (15 per cent) are severely malnourished;
265 million children (15 per cent) have never received any immunisations or have chronic, untreated diarrhoea;
The study found significant differences between regions, with Sub-Saharan Africa having the highest rates of severe deprivation with respect to four of the seven indicators - shelter, water, education and health. There were also clear gender differences, particularly with regards to education deprivation, with girls 60 per cent more likely to be severely educationally deprived. Girls in the Middle East and North Africa region are three times more likely than boys to be educationally deprived. Children in rural areas are much more likely to be severely deprived than urban children, particularly with regards to water, sanitation and education. In a number of countries, absolute poverty rates among children in rural areas are as high as 90 per cent.
Rural neglect
The report calls for anti-poverty strategies to respond to local conditions, and argues against blanket solutions to eradicating child poverty. Instead, it emphasises the need to improve basic infrastructure and social services for families with children, particularly with regards to shelter and sanitation in rural areas. An international investment fund for payment towards national schemes of child benefit in cash or kind is also suggested.
Shailen Nandy at the University of Bristol and one of the co-authors of the report says: "At this rate the UN Millennium Development Goals are unlikely to be met, given declining international commitment to development aid. The results of cutting public spending on basic social services have been an increase in poverty and inequality, a fact which organisations like the World Bank need to acknowledge."
Source: UNICEF-UK, 12 November 2003.
For copies of the report please go to:
http://www.policypress.org.uk or call The Policy Press: +44 (0)117 331 4054.
© People & the Planet 2000 - 2007
Endy, this study is four years old- so it doesn't even address the children in Iraq, US, UK, etc. who have been affected either by being directly in the line of fire or because their parents have been deployed to serve.
and in our own back yard:
Study: Child abuse, troop deployment linked
By Robert Davis and Gregg Zoroya, USA TODAY
Sending soldiers to war puts their children left at home at higher risk of abuse and neglect, says a study out Tuesday.
The study among military families shows that reports of emotional, physical and sexual abuse and child neglect peaked during the main deployment of troops to Iraq. When deployments began, reports of abuse quickly jumped from 5 in 1,000 children to 10 in 1,000.
The study found that victims were typically age 4 or younger and the abuser was usually the parent who remained at home while a spouse was deployed. Military families had lower rates of child maltreatment than civilian families before war. The study found that abuse rates soared when parents were sent to active duty.
"Among military personnel with at least one dependent, the rate of child maltreatment in military families increased by approximately 30% for each 1% increase in the percentage of active-duty personnel departing to or returning from operation-related deployment," according to the study, in the May 15 issue of American Journal of Epidemiology, out today.
"The stress of war extends beyond the soldier and the military personnel to impact the family," said lead researcher Danielle Rentz, now an epidemiologist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She conducted the study while at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
The potential for greater maltreatment as deployments increase "is something that we have been concerned about for quite some time," says Barbara Cohoon, a medical care expert with the National Military Family Association.
Army spokesman Paul Boyce says much has improved since the 2002-03 period reflected in the study, including support programs in medicine, counseling, schools and the work of chaplains.
At Texas' Fort Hood, home to about 70,000 military family members, the post is now working with the Military Child Education Coalition to improve community involvement with military families, Boyce said. "The U.S. Army, like many American communities, takes a solid teamwork approach to assisting families who have a soldier deployed," he said.
Previous studies have linked military deployment to higher divorce rates and spousal violence, but this study is the first to suggest a link to child abuse.
The scope of the study was limited, analyzing data from a Texas registry of verified child abuse cases in military and other families in that state from 2000 to 2003, the most recent data available. Researchers found that after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the rate of child abuse stayed relatively stable among both military and non-military families, with the rate among military families lower than non-military.
That changed in 2002. The rate of abuse within military families steadily increased through the latter half of that year as the nation mobilized for war. And it dramatically increased in January 2003, shortly before the invasion of Iraq.
The rate of abuse dipped after the fighting started in Iraq but stayed above the rate of non-military families. Then it spiked again three months into the war. Rentz says it is unclear why it dropped: anything from education campaigns to a drop in reported cases over the winter holidays could have played a role, she says.
The researchers used Texas data because it was very complete. The state is home to several military installations, including one of the Army's largest at Fort Hood, home of two divisions ?- the 4th Infantry and 1st Cavalry. Fort Hood has suffered more casualties in the Iraq war than any other military base in the country.
Rentz says more detailed studies are needed to determine what leads to the abuse, but she says there is no reason to think the situation is better in other states today.
"Families are still under stress, and that is one of the key points," she says. "We really need more data to see what is going on."
You're such a catalyst Endy. While I was looking at articles and images I found this volunteer organization:
Opportunities for service google: www.ngosabroad.co.uk
(The link was ridiculously long and all tied up with the image- and I was afraid it wouldn't work) but there are some incredible opportunities all over the world for people with all sorts of varying skills to work for children-right now they need builders and brick masons and plumbers....
