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)
Birth registration
* The births of 33 are not registered. These children have no official
existence or recognition of nationality.
Immunization
* 27 are not immunized against any disease.
Nutrition
* 32 suffer from malnutrition in their first five years of life.
* Only 44 are exclusively breastfed for the first three months of life.
Water and Sanitation
* 18 have no access to clean drinking water.
* 39 live without adequate sanitation.
Schooling
* 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.
Literacy
* 17 out of every 100 children never learn how to read. 11 are girls.
Child labour
* 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.
Life expectancy
* 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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