The East Asia and the Pacific Study on Child Poverty is the second regional report to be completed.
This study is the first measurement of multidimensional child poverty at the regional level in East Asia and the Pacific. It is based on seven countries in the region: Cambodia, Lao PDR, Mongolia, Philippines, Thailand, Vanuatu and Viet Nam. The study results show that, of the 93 million children who live in these seven countries, approximately 54% experience poverty, as measured by deprivation of basic needs. In 2006, approximately 36% of children suffered severe deprivation in at least one of the seven dimensions identified as relevant for child poverty (food, water, shelter, sanitation, health, education and information) and approximately 14% suffered from severe deprivation in multiple dimensions. In the group of countries with the highest rates of child poverty (Cambodia, Lao PDR and Mongolia), approximately 83% of children were severely deprived in at least one dimension.
This study also highlights existing disparities within countries in the region. For example, in Viet Nam, children from ethnic minority groups are 11 times more likely to suffer from multiple severe deprivations than children from ethnic majority groups – an unfortunate pattern found in many other countries. Child poverty was 30 per cent higher in rural Cambodia than in urban areas, 60 per cent higher in rural Thailand and 130 per cent higher in rural Philippines.
To access the full report and other by-products, advocacy related materials, press releases and more please click here.
Additionally, 2 new Global Study country reports have been finalized:
Nepal, with an annual GDP per capita income of US$367, is one of the poorest countries in the world. Two thirds of Nepal’s children are severely deprived and just under forty per cent live in absolute poverty. Children from large households, illiterate families, disadvantaged and Dalit households are likely to be the poorest. Additionally, child poverty is three times higher in rural households than in urban households. Two in every five children experience severe deprivation of at least two basic human needs. Deprivations of food and sanitation services occur most frequently, followed by deprivations of water and information services. Malnutrition is a severe problem; with half of Nepal’s children under the age of five stunted and over two thirds underweight. Measured by the absence of a toilet of any kind, over half of Nepal’s children (55.7% or 6.4 million) defecate in open spaces with obvious implications for the spread of diseases. Nepal has one of the highest early childhood mortality rates in the region. Leading causes of child mortality includes diarrhoea, acute respiratory infection, and malaria. A large proportion of Nepal’s children have inadequate access to schooling and 10% of children do not attend school at all.
To access the full report and other by-products, advocacy related materials, press releases and more please click here.
The 2010 Study on Child Poverty and Disparities in Mozambique provides an opportunity to take stock of the progress made towards the realisation of the rights of the country’s ten million children since the 2006 Childhood Poverty Study: A Situation and Trends Analysis, and to assess the immense challenges that remain for the coming years. According to the 2008/2009 Household Budget Survey, 55 per cent of Mozambicans are living below the national poverty line of 18.4 Meticais ($US 0.50) per day. Using a deprivations-based approach the proportion of children living in absolute poverty in Mozambique fell from 59 per cent in 2003 to 48 per cent in 2008. Significant disparities exist in relation to provincial deprivations-based poverty rates. The proportion of children experiencing two or more severe deprivations was highest in Zambezia province in both 2003 and 2008 (80 and 64 per cent respectively). Maputo City has the lowest levels of absolute child poverty, with only 4 per cent of children experiencing two or more severe deprivations. To access the full report and other by-products, advocacy related materials, press releases and more please click here
To read all the final reports, click here.
