Human Lives Human Rights: According to data released Wednesday by two UN agencies and the British charity Save the Children, 1.4 billion children under the age of 16 worldwide lack any form of social protection, exposing them to disease, poor nutrition, and poverty.
The International Labour Organization (ILO), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and Save the Children compiled the data.
In low-income countries, fewer than one in ten children have access to child benefits, highlighting a significant disparity compared to children in high-income countries who enjoy broader coverage.
“Globally, 333 million children live in extreme poverty, struggling to survive on less than $2.15 per day, and nearly one billion children live in multidimensional poverty,” said Natalia Winder Rossi, Global Director of Social Policy and Social Protection at UNICEF.
Rossi emphasized that ending child poverty is a policy choice made by governments. She stressed the importance of expanding social protection coverage for children, including the progressive realization of universal child benefits.
Child benefits, delivered as cash or tax credits, are crucial for reducing poverty and enabling access to healthcare, nutrition, quality education, water, and sanitation. They also support socio-economic development, particularly during crises.
Despite a modest global increase in access to child benefits from 20% in 2009 to 28.1% in 2023, progress has been uneven. Coverage rates in low-income countries remain remarkably low at around 9%, compared to 84.6% in high-income countries.
The group emphasized the importance of ensuring children are covered by social protection to shield them from the worst impacts of the climate crisis.
Regional breakdowns of child benefits coverage between 2009-2023 showed varied improvements across different regions, with Latin America and the Caribbean experiencing marked increases from 30.8% to 41.9%.
“This is a crisis for the almost one billion children who are not covered by benefits, and for the countries in which they live,” said Shahra Razavi, Director of the Social Protection Department at the ILO.
