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1. Children in the world: A statistical overview

1. Children in the world: A statistical overview. Children in Developing Countries Dr . Renata Serra – Fall 2009. A note of caution re: data. All statistics contain errors Data from developing countries are fewer, contain many missing observations, and are of poorer quality than average

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1. Children in the world: A statistical overview

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  1. 1. Children in the world: A statistical overview Children in Developing Countries Dr. RenataSerra – Fall 2009

  2. A note of caution re: data • All statistics contain errors • Data from developing countries are fewer, contain many missing observations, and are of poorer quality than average • Statistical capacity ~ degree of development • At the same time, we have to work with the data we have

  3. Quick comparison by world regions Source: Unicef, State of the World Children (SOWC) 2009, Table 1

  4. Some facts • Children represent over 1/3 of the world population… • … but up to 50% of the population in the poorest countries • Indicators of child well-being do not correlate too well with per-capita income • Growth in income will not lead automatically to improvements in the lives of children: specific policies may be needed

  5. 1. Infant mortality rates • IMRu1/u5 measures the number of children who die before reaching age 1 (or 5), per 1000 live births • IMRs are a fundamental indicator of children’s well-being and good tool for countries’ comparison • IMR are particularly high in SSA • Out of the 35 countries with the worst ranking only 1 is not from SSA (Afghanistan, which is the 2nd worst) • 5 African countries have IMRU5 greater or close to 200 • 37 countries in the world have IMR > 100 • 2 are from Asia (Afghanistan and Myanmar)

  6. Infant mortality rates (cont’d) • IMR U5 has improved in the last 20 years but much less so in SSA • Countries which have halved IMRu5 during 1990-2005 from over to under 100, include: • India, Bangladesh, Mongolia and Nepal in Asia • Bolivia in LA&C and Ghana in SSA • Brazil has also halved IMRs to 30 in the same period!

  7. 2. Nutrition • Undernourishment: insufficient calories (energy) to meet minimum physiological needs. On average, >2,100 kilocalories per day per person are needed • Malnutrition/Undernutrition:inability to maintain natural bodily capacities such as growth, pregnancy, lactation, learning abilities, physical work and resisting and recovering from disease • Measured not by how much food is eaten but by physical measurements of the body • Stunted: 2 SD below average height-for-age • Wasted: 2 SD below average weight-for-height • Weight for age is also measured (under-weight)

  8. Nutrition (cont’d) • Malnutrition is most often linked to lack of appropriate nutrients: • Iron deficiency is the most prevalent form of malnutrition worldwide, affecting an estimated 1.7 billion people, half of whom suffer from anemia • Vitamin A deficiency weakens the immune systems of a large proportion of under-5 increasing their vulnerability to disease • Protein deficiency is also very common among poor children (‘big-bellied children’) • Child malnutrition is of high incidence in central and eastern Africa but the majority of undernourished children are found in South Asia • 41% of children under-5 are underweight in SA; 24% in SSA (Table 2 UNICEF, SOWC 2009); 11% or less in the other regions

  9. Under-weight prevalence among under-5 children in LDCs Source: UNICEF, State of the World Children 2007, figure 2.4

  10. 3. School enrolment Source: Figure 2.2 Unicef, SoWC 2006

  11. Gender gap in school attendance School attendance is always less than school enrolment and more difficult to measure Data on East Asia & Pacific region exclude China The last column is the average of all developing countries excluding China * Data on secondary school gap for Latina America & Caribbean region are on enrolment not on attendance Source: SOWC 2009, Table 5

  12. 4. Other measures of deprivation Source: Figure 2.3 Unicef, SoWC 2006

  13. Indicators of child protection include data on attitude towards violence against children, child marriage, child labor and female genital cutting. See Unicef, SPWC2009, Table 9. Indicators of child protection

  14. 5. Child poverty • Poverty is multi-dimensional concept: • Insufficient access to goods and services • Lack of freedoms (from hunger, diseases, anxiety, violence) • Being victim of violence and exploitation • Poverty concepts may have different meanings through space and time • Income poverty is often used to make international comparisons: • Absolute poverty lines are used for developing countries ($1 a day or $2 a day) • Relative poverty lines for developed countries (children living in households with < 50% of median HH income) • To know more about child poverty in the US: National Center for Children in Poverty (http://www.nccp.org/)

  15. Child poverty in OECD countries Source: Unicef SoWC 2006, fig. 2.4

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