UNICEF: 333 Million Children Still in Extreme Poverty

By Staff, Agencies

A joint report from the United Nations Children’s Fund [UNICEF] and the World Bank has shown that the battle to eliminate child poverty has encountered a severe setback due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The report discloses that 333 million children worldwide are still grappling with extreme poverty.

One of the findings of the report showed that the pandemic has prevented the rescue of 30 million children from extreme poverty, compared to earlier predictions. Consequently, approximately one in six children across the globe continues to endure the harsh realities of living on less than $2.15 per day.

“Compounding crises, from the impacts of COVID-19, conflict, climate change, and economic shocks, have stalled progress and left millions of children in extreme poverty,” declared UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell in a statement. The report's findings cast a significant shadow over the United Nations' ambitious aim of eradicating extreme child poverty by 2030.

Luis-Felipe Lopez-Calva, the World Bank Global Director for Poverty and Equity, said, “A world where 333 million children live in extreme poverty – deprived not only of basic needs but also dignity, opportunity, or hope – is simply intolerable.”

The report also revealed that 40 percent of children in sub-Saharan Africa still grapple with extreme poverty, marking the highest percentage on a global scale.

The region’s child poverty situation has worsened in recent years, owing to factors like rapid population growth, the COVID-19 pandemic, and climate-related disasters. In stark contrast, all other regions around the world have witnessed a consistent decline in child poverty.

In response, the World Bank and UNICEF have called upon countries to prioritize addressing child poverty by implementing a range of measures, including the expansion of universal child benefits programs.