World Children's Day

Who is most at risk of child poverty? The world’s youngest children experience higher rates of poverty than older ones. Children with disabilities, children living in rural areas, and indigenous children experience higher rates of poverty than other children. Historic levels of conflict are also driving more children into poverty, with half of all children in fragile and conflict-affected settings living in extreme poverty. Children who are displaced or refugees, though often undercounted, face heightened poverty risk both in transit and upon arrival. Where is child poverty most common? Together, sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia account for almost 9 out of 10 children living in extreme monetary poverty. Such concentration in these two regions is no reason for complacency elsewhere. Substantial levels of child poverty exist around the world, even in countries that are now considered relatively well off. In high-income countries, about 50 million children live in monetary poverty, mean...

We have evidence of what works when conditions allow, and we have promising, scalable adaptations for when they don’t. What we need now is the will – to implement proven strategies , to listen to and learn from children , and to innovate solutions that can withstand today’s converging crises . The rights of every child must be fully realized and upheld. Our collective future depends on it.

At its core, poverty is a lack of financial resources . This alone does not capture the full reality for children. Child poverty must also be understood through the lens of the multiple deprivations children face in their daily lives. This chapter explores child poverty through both monetary and multidimensional definitions, disaggregated by country income group. It highlights the progress made to date, while emphasizing how fragile and uneven that progress remains.