Anjali Sharma
GG News Bureau
UNITED NATIONS,15th Sept. According to a new report from the UNICEF and the World Bank released on Wednesday stated that 330 million children worldwide living in extreme poverty one in every 6 children is forced to survive on less than $2.15 a day.
The findings showed that 333 million children worldwide are living in extreme poverty a decrease of almost 50 million over the course of the past decade.
The report’s authors said that millions more should have been lifted out of extreme poverty had it not been for three years of COVID-19-related disruptions.
UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell said that the effects of the pandemic as well as conflict, climate change and economic shocks, have “stalled progress” on ending child poverty.
She called for redoubled efforts to ensure that all children have access to essential services, including education, nutrition, health care and social protection, while addressing the root causes of extreme poverty.
“We cannot fail these children now,” she said.
The report showed that globally, children comprise more than 50 per cent of the extreme poor, despite making up only a third of the world’s population.
It noted that 90 per cent of children caught in extreme poverty reside in either sub-Saharan Africa or South Asia. Sub-Saharan Africa has both the highest rate, at 40 per cent in 2022 and the largest share of the world’s extreme poor children, over 71 per cent – a significant jump from just under 55 per cent 10 years ago.
Authors said that rapid population growth and “limited” social protection measures have contributed to this steep increase.
It added that all other regions in the world except the Middle East and North Africa have seen a “steady decline” in extreme poverty rates.
The report said that children living in rural settings and those living in households where the head has little or no education are “significantly more affected” by extreme poverty.
It said that 1 in 3 children in countries affected by conflict live in extremely poor households, compared to one in 10 in “non-fragile states”.
The report warned that at current rates of reduction, the Sustainable Development Goals to end extreme child poverty by 2030, or SDG 1, will not be met.
UN rights chief Volker Türk called the world’s insufficient progress towards this goal a “terrible collective human rights failure”.
SDGs will be high on the agenda during the High-level Week of the UN General when global leaders will discuss the road towards the SDGs at the halfway point.
SDG Summit will aim to accelerate action for the 17 Goals and is expected to adopt a political declaration.
