The Global Child

In preparation for the United Nations Special Session on Children, the following is forwarded from UNICEF:

The Global Child

There are 2.1 billion children in the world, accounting for 35% of the world's population. Some 129 million children are born each year.

Globally, 1 in 4 children lives in abject poverty - in families with income lower than $1 a day. In developing countries, 1 in 3 children lives in abject poverty.

One of every 12 children dies before they reach five, mostly from preventable causes.

Of every 100 children in the world:

• 55 are born in Asia (19 in India, 18 China)
• 16 are born in sub-Saharan Africa
• 8 are born in Latin America and the Caribbean
• 7 are born in the Middle East and North Africa
• 6 are born in the Eastern Europe, CIS and Baltic States
• 8 are born in industrialized countries (Western Europe, USA, Canada, Israel, Japan, Australia, New Zealand)

• The births of 33 are not registered. These children have no official existence or recognition of nationality.

• 27 are not immunized against any disease.

• 32 suffer from malnutrition in their first five years of life.
• Only 44 are exclusively breastfed for the first three months of life.

• 18 have no access to clean drinking water.
• 39 live without adequate sanitation.

• 18 of the children never go to school. Of these, 11 are girls.
• 25 of every 100 who begin 1st grade do not reach the 5th grade.

• 17 out of every 100 children never learn how to read. 11 are girls.

• 1 of every 4 children between the ages of 5 and 14 in the developing world work.
• Half of those who work do so full time.
• 8 of the 21 children born in Africa work.
• 12 of the 55 children born in Asia work.
• 1 of the 8 born in Latin America work.

• Globally, children born today are expected to live 64 years.
• In the industrialized world, they will live 78 years.
• In the 45 countries most affected by HIV/AIDS, average life expectancy is 58 years.
• In Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe - countries heavily affected by HIV/AIDS - life expectancy is less than 43 years.

Sources: ILO Child Labor Statistics; UNICEF, The State of the World's Children Report (2001 and 2002); UNICEF, Facts and Figures 2000.

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