Some 1.4 billion children worldwide aged under 16 lack any form of social protection, leaving them vulnerable to disease, poor nutrition and poverty, according to data released Wednesday by two U.N. agencies and the British charity Save the Children.
The data was compiled by the International Labor Organization (ILO), UNICEF and Save the Children.
In low-income countries, fewer than one in 10 children have access to child benefits, highlighting a significant disparity compared to coverage enjoyed by children in high-income countries.
"Globally, there are 333 million children living in extreme poverty, struggling to survive on less than $2.15 per day, and nearly 1 billion children living in multidimensional poverty,” said Natalia Winder Rossi, Global Director of Social Policy and Social Protection at UNICEF.
"At the current rate of progress, achieving the Sustainable Development Goals’ poverty targets are out of reach. This is unacceptable,” she said.
Rossi said ending child poverty is a policy choice made by governments. Expanding social protection coverage of children in the fight against poverty is critical, including the progressive realization of universal child benefits, she explained.
The groups said child benefits are a vital social protection intended to promote children’s long-term well-being.
They are delivered as cash or tax credits, and child benefits are essential for reducing poverty as well as accessing health care, nutrition, quality education, water and sanitation.
The benefits also support socio-economic development, particularly in crisis times.
Many children are deprived of the basic resources and services they need to escape poverty and are therefore exposed to the long-lasting impact of hunger, malnutrition and unrealized potential.
The data shows a modest global increase in access to child benefits over 14 years, from 20% in 2009 to 28.1% in 2023.
However, progress has been unequal. In low-income countries, coverage rates remain staggeringly low, at around 9%, at the same time, 84.6% of children in high-income countries are covered.
Coverage rates for children in countries highly vulnerable to climate change are a third lower than those in countries not classified as being at high risk.
Ensuring that children are covered by social protection is key to protecting them from the worst impacts of the climate crisis, says the group.
A regional breakdown of child benefits coverage between 2009-2023 shows that in East Asia and the Pacific, child benefits coverage increased from 9.2% in 2009 to 16.0% in 2023.
Coverage of social protection programs saw varying increases across different regions during the specified period. In Eastern and Southern Africa, it rose from 9.6% to 12.3%, while in West and Central Africa, it increased from 3.1% to 11.8%. Eastern Europe and Central Asia experienced a modest increase from 59.0% to 61.4%, whereas North America saw a more substantial rise from 78.1% to 84.0%. In Western Europe, coverage improved from 91.0% to 93.2%.
Notable enhancements were observed in Latin America and the Caribbean, with coverage rates climbing from 30.8% to 41.9%. Similarly, in the Middle East and North Africa, coverage rose from 22.7% to 32.5%, and in South Asia, it increased from 9.2% to 24.3%. Shahra Razavi, director of the Social Protection Department at the ILO, emphasized the severity of the situation, stating, "This is a crisis for the almost one billion children who are not covered by benefits, and for the countries in which they live."
