UNICEF Global Study on Child Poverty and Disparities
UNICEF launched a Global Study on Child Poverty and Disparities in September 2007 to strengthen the profile of children at the national policy table. Professor Dave Gordon and Shailen Nandy, of the Centre for Study of Poverty and Social Justice, worked with UNICEF to analyse household survey data on over 40 countries to show the conditions in which poor children and their families live. The study aims to influence the economic and social policies that affect resource allocations, and hopes to make children a priority in national programmes addressing the poverty of families raising children. The study addresses the health, education and protection needs of children living in poor, vulnerable households, unsafe circumstances and disadvantaged communities on the global study on child poverty and disparities blog.
Despite some progress towards the Millennium Development Goals, millions of women and children are still left behind – even in countries that have demonstrated improvement overall. UNICEF has taken on an enhanced organizational commitment to leveraging evidence, analysis, policy and partnerships to promote gender equality and deliver results for all children. The Global Study on Child Poverty and Disparities, carried out in 40 countries and seven regions in 2007-2008 with UNICEF support, is part of that effort.
The study will produce comparable analyses on child poverty and disparities in nutrition, health, education and child and social protection through collaboration with national and international partners. The results and process of the study are expected to generate evidence, insights and networks that can be used as leverage to influence national development plans, and to inspire and feed into poverty reduction strategies or sector-wide approaches, common country assessments and other development instruments. With support from a number of experts and international research centres, the social policy and economical analysis unit in UNICEF's division of policy and planning created a comprehensive Global Study Guide to help carry out the study in each participating country.
The study intends to find context-specific evidence to assess policy responsiveness to outcomes related to child poverty and disparities. With a comprehensive approach, this analysis intends to use the material and deprivation approach to measure child poverty and assess how these approaches interact with one another. The country analyses will be conducted by teams of national experts in collaboration with UNICEF country focal points, and will include participatory mechanisms to engage with multiple stakeholders at the country level. A core, global network of child poverty experts across more than 45 countries should foster knowledge sharing and collaboration across every region. Individual country reports are at the heart of the global study, and we envision that they will serve as the building blocks for regional and global reports.
→ Further information can be found by downloading Global Study on Child Poverty and Disparities [PPT, 696KB]
→ A Statictical analysis of 36 countries for Child Povery and Disparity can be seen in their respective Statistical Tables as follows [all XLS spreadsheets, 600KB]:
Results from Child Poverty in the Developing World used in UNICEF's State of the World's Children
The Unicef's report on the State of the World's Children was launched on Thursday the 9th of December 2004 at the London School of Economics. The director of the Unicef, Carol Bellamy, reported that over 1 billion children are denied the health and protection promised by the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The report uses measures of absolute poverty developed by researchers at the Townsend centre to ascertain the extent of child poverty worldwide.
→ Read the State of the World's Children [PDF, 6.5MB]
To find out more about the measures of absolute poverty used in the Unicef report, see Absolute Poverty and Deprivation in Childhood and Launch of the Child Poverty in the Developing World Report.
Press Coverage of State of the World's Children Launch
ABC News (Australia) 10/12/2004
Channel News Asia (Singapore) 10/12/2004
The Mirror (UK) 10/12/2004
allAfrica.com 09/12/2004
Al Jazeera International 09/12/2004
BBC Mundo (Spanish) 09/12/2004
The Globe and Mail (Canada) 09/12/2004
The Guardian (UK) 09/12/2004
The Independent (UK) 09/12/2004
India Express 09/12/2004
News 24 (South Africa) 09/12/2004
Eradicating Poverty in the 21st Century: When will Social Justice be done?
This is the title of the inaugural lecture given by Prof. Dave Gordon on the 18th of October 2004 where he uses data on child poverty.
→ View the powerpoint presentation [PPT, 2.5MB]
→ Read the full transcript of the lecture [DOC, 1.7MB] [PDF, 1.5MB]
Abstract
Poverty is currently the world's largest source of harm; it causes more death, disease, suffering and misery than any other social phenomenon. Poverty is now a bigger scourge of humanity than plague, pestilence or famine. Each year over 10 million children die - mainly from preventable causes which go untreated due to poverty.
Yet there is no need for any person in the twenty first century, anywhere, to starve, go without clean drinking water, toilets or access to basic health care and education. Providing poor people with all these things would not have any significant (or even noticeable) impact on the lifestyles of the 'rich'. Poverty is not an 'act of god' nor 'inevitable'. It is a political choice. What is lacking is not sufficient money but the political will to end poverty.
This inaugural lecture will examine why poverty continues to persist and grow when governments and the United Nations have repeatedly committed themselves to first alleviating and then eradicating poverty for the past 50 years. It will show the current extent and nature of poverty across the world and what effective, efficient and low cost policies are available to quickly eradicate poverty.
Absolute Poverty and Deprivation in Childhood
In 2003 members of the Townsend Centre for International Poverty Research finished work on the most extensive survey sample of children from 46 developing countries.
The report, commissioned by UNICEF and published by the Policy Press, represents the first scientific measure of child poverty in the developing world. It shows that more than a billion children are severely deprived of basic human needs, and 674 million live in conditions of absolute poverty.
There were significant differences between regions, with Sub-Saharan Africa having the highest proportionsof children severely deprived of shelter, water, education and health. There were also clear gender differences, particularly with regards to education. Girls in the Middle East and North Africa region are 60% more likely to be severely educationally deprived.
Table showing percentage of children living in poverty by region:
Region |
% Children in Absolute Poverty |
% Children Severely Deprived of at least One Basic Need |
Sub-Saharan Africa |
62 |
82 |
Central & West Asia |
9 |
31 |
East Asia & Pacific |
9 |
30 |
Latin America & Caribbean |
15 |
32 |
Middle East & North Africa |
35 |
61 |
South Asia |
54 |
81 |
Developing World Total |
34 |
57 |
→ See full table of most updated child poverty figures
[XLS, 0.1MB] [HTML, 0.011MB]
Equity for Children
Equity for Children is a web initiative launched in conjunction with the Graduate Program in International Affairs (GPIA) at The New School.
Students, professors, academics and practitioners are invited to exchange information and disseminate knowledge on:
Child poverty, child rights, health and wellbeing, inequality, social policy, innovative methodologies in the context of development, and art & culture projects by children.
For further information please visit their website.
Launch of Child Poverty in the Developing World Report
On Tuesday 21st October 2003, Mary Robinson, former United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and director of the Ethical Globalisation Initiative, launched the report Child Poverty in the Developing World.
Mary Robinson speaking at the launch of the Child Poverty in the Developing World Report.
She praised the work of the Townsend Centre for International Poverty Research, saying it had
"...authored powerful, courageous studies on the extent of world poverty and the need for new international strategies".
She noted that the report was the first
"...to use a human rights definition of poverty, rather than the more standard and arbitrary economic measurements of GDP per capita or income per capita"
and that tackling child poverty is
"...a moral challenge to us all".
The launch was held at the London School of Economics, and chaired by Professor Conor Gearty, director of the Centre for the Study of Human Rights at the LSE. Over 400 people, including policy makers, academics, researchers, journalists and students, attended.
Speeches
→ Mary Robinson's speech
[PDF, 0.15MB] [DOC, 0.04MB]
→ Elizabeth Gibbon's speech to the House of Commons
[PDF, 0.1MB] [DOC, 0.04MB]
→ Elizabeth Gibbon's Speech to the London School of Economics
[PDF, 0.8MB] [DOC, 0.04MB]
→ Cherie Booth's speech
[PDF, 0.15MB] [DOC, 0.03MB]
Press Coverage
International Press and Media Coverage
→ Iran Daily (English), 28 October 2003 [PDF, 0.19MB]
Turin Province (Italian) 27/10/2003
BBC Brasil (Portuguese) 23/10/2003
The Independent, 22/10/2003
Sky News 22/10/2003
London School of Economics 22/10/2003
Children’s BBC News 22/10/2003
Pan African Press 21/10/2003
Human Rights Education Association (Spanish) 21/10/2003
Press Releases
→ Policy Press October, 2003 [PDF, 0.07MB]
Read UNICEF's press release.
Research Reports
→ The Distribution of Child Poverty in the Developing World Report to UNICEF, David Gordon, Shailen Nandy, Christina Pantazis, Simon Pemberton and
Peter Townsend
Download abstract of report [PDF, 0.1MB] [DOC, 0.02MB]
Download summary of report sent to UNICEF [PDF, 0.5MB] [DOC, 0.6MB]
Download full report sent to the UNICEF [PDF, 3.3MB] [DOC, 3.4 MB]
→ Child Poverty in the Developing World, summary article
David Gordon, Shailen Nandy, Christina Pantazis, Simon Pemberton
and Peter Townsend
[PDF, 0.3MB] [DOC, 0.1MB]
→ Using Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS) and Demographic and Health Survey (DHS) data to measure child poverty, Conference paper David Gordon, Shailen Nandy, Christina Pantazis, Simon Pemberton and Peter Townsend
[PDF, 1.1MB] [DOC, 1.3MB]
Review
Read the review of Child Poverty in the Developing World by Sheriden Bartlett in the journal Children, Youth and Environments.
→ Read the author's response to the review [DOC, 29KB]
Presentations
Alberto Minujin and Enrique Delamonica from the UNICEF put together this presentation showing regional variations in the incidence, depth and severity poverty and the policies put in place by the UNICEF to tackle the problem of child poverty worldwide.
→ Incidence, depth and severity of children in poverty
Bristol, June 2005, [PPT, 0.08MB]
Professor David Gordon and Professor Peter Townsend made a presentation on 'Poverty and the Rights of the Child' to the OECD Metagora Forum, 24-25th May 2005, in Paris. Metagora is a project focusing on methods, tools and frameworks for measuring democracy, human rights and governance
→ Poverty and the Rights of the Child
Paris, May 2005 [PPT, 0.4MB]
> UNICEF Global Study on Child Poverty and Disparities
> Results from Child Poverty in the Developing World used in UNICEF's State of the World's Children
> Press Coverage of State of the World's Children Launch
> Eradicating Poverty in the 21st Century: When will Social Justice be done?
> Absolute Poverty and Deprivation in Childhood
> Launch of Child Poverty in the Developing World Report
> Speeches
> Review