More than six in 10 children around the world lack access to a welfare safety net, according to a joint UN agency report released on Wednesday.
The report from the International Labour Organization and UNICEF found that a welfare safety net exists for just 35 per cent of children overall but drops from 87 per cent in Europe to 66 per cent in the Americas, 28 per cent in Asia and just 16 per cent in Africa.
The report shows that at the same time, one in five children globally – 385 million – live in “extreme” poverty (defined as less than $US1.90 a day) while almost half the world’s children – 689 million – live in “moderate” poverty (defined as under $3.10 a day).
The report calls for a rapid expansion of child and family benefits with the aim of achieving universal social protection for children and notes that while a number of developing countries have achieved or nearly achieved universal coverage – including Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mongolia and South Africa, in many other countries social protection programs for children struggle with “limited coverage, inadequate benefit levels, fragmentation and weak institutionalisation”.
Isabel Ortiz, director of social protection for the ILO, said child poverty could be “reduced overnight with adequate social protection”.
“To improve the lives of all children is an issue of priorities and political will: even the poorest countries have fiscal space to extend social protection floors.”
Alexandra Yuster, UNICEF’s associate director and chief of social policy, said poverty “hits children the hardest, since its consequences can last a lifetime”.
“The poor nutrition and lost years of education that often result are tragic both for the individual and for his or her community and society. Countries need to put children first and reach every child with social protection to end poverty for good.”
