Child Poverty
Today, more than ever, the world's children need champions - people who will not only speak up for them, but also take bold action to alleviate their suffering and give them hope. With 2.1 billion children in the world, making up 36 per cent of the world's total population, children are our future.
The love and care we provide for them today will determine the kind of world we have tomorrow. Tragically, of the 132 million children born each year, one in four is born into a family that exists on less than $2 CAD a day. In developing countries, one in three children is born into abject poverty and conditions of almost unimaginable suffering and need.
Out of every 100 children
- 27 suffer from malnutrition in their first five years of life
- 25 are not immunised against any diseases
- 18 have no access to clean drinking water
- 39 live without adequate sanitation
- 18 never go to school (of these, 11 are girls)
- 25 who begin 1st grade do not reach 5th grade
- 20 never learn how to read (of these, 13 are girls)
What's more
- In the developing world, one in every five children aged between five and 14 work
- Half of those who work do so full time
- Nine out of every 21 African children work
- 11 of every 53 Asian children work
- One of every eight Latin American children work
- One of every 17 children born around the world dies before reaching age five, mostly from preventable causes
- In Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe , countries heavily affected by HIV/AIDS , life expectancy is less than 43 years.
* Source – UNICEF: 
The State of the World’s Children report 2007 (1760 KB PDF)