One in every four children being robbed of their childhood, new report from Save the Children finds

One quarter of the world’s children are being denied a childhood, a new report from Save the Children has revealed. While Canada is not ranked because of data collection and format challenges, the report includes a global index ranking the places where childhood is most and least threatened.

The Stolen Childhoods report has found that at least 700 million children—and possibly hundreds of millions more—have had the promise of a full childhood brought to an early end. The reasons include extreme violence and conflict; poor health and not being able to go to school; and early marriage and pregnancy.

The index finds that childhoods in West and Central Africa are most threatened. Niger is ranked the lowest, followed by Angola, Mali, Central African Republic, and Somalia. The countries where childhood is the least threatened—Norway, Slovenia, Finland, the Netherlands, and Sweden—are all located in Europe.

Patricia Erb, President and CEO of Save the Children in Canada said, “Children growing up in war, being targeted by violent groups, and marrying and having babies while they themselves are still children, are being robbed of a childhood. It is unacceptable that in 2017, millions of children around the world still do not have their right to be safe, learn, grow and play. We must, and we can, do better than this.”

Research for the report tells us that 40 million girls between the ages of 15 and 19 are married or in a union, and 16 million girls in this same age range give birth annually, while 1 million girls younger than 15 give birth every year. This amounts to one girl under 15 being married every seven seconds, and every two seconds, a girl giving birth.

The report also found that:

• Every day, more than 16,000 children die before reaching their fifth birthday, the vast majority from preventable causes
• About one quarter of all children under five (156 million) have their physical growth and mental development stunted as a result of malnutrition
• One in six school-aged children worldwide is currently out of school
• Conflict has forced nearly one child in 80 from their homes
• 168 million children in the world are involved in child labour – 85 million in hazardous work – which is more than all the children living in Europe (138 million)

“In 2015, the world made a promise that by 2030, all children be would be in school, protected, and healthy, regardless of who they are, and where they live. Although this is an ambitious target, it’s within reach if governments invest in all children to guarantee they have the full childhood they deserve,” added Erb.

“We are calling on the Government of Canada to help ensure that children – particularly girls – have a voice and make their own choices to fulfill their destinies. The commitment of the Canadian Government to end early marriage is vital. The sexual and reproductive health and rights of adolescent girls and boys is critical, and the Government’s recent announcement of $650 million in funding for sexual and reproductive health and rights must address their needs specifically,” stated Erb.

In line with its Every Last Child campaign, Save the Children is calling on governments to ensure that no child dies from preventable or treatable causes or is subjected to extreme violence; is robbed of a future as a result of early or forced marriage, or early pregnancy; and that they have access to a quality education.

The full report can be read online here.

To sign a petition calling on governments to increase investment in children, please visit endofchildhood.org

ENDS

Notes to editors:

• A child is defined as someone under the age of 18, as per the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
• An estimated 734 million children are missing out on childhood (i.e., they have experienced one or more ‘ender’ events).
• This number includes three distinct groups of children: children aged 0-17 who have died (159 million), children aged 0-5 who are stunted (186 million) and children 6-17 who are out of primary or secondary school (263 million). It also includes a subset of child refugees and child IDPs (14 million) and a subset of child labourers (112 million) who aren’t likely to be already accounted for in the other groups.
• To reach this number, a series of reasonable assumptions were made based on evidence of overlap between these groups of children.
• Avoiding the problem of double counting leads to undercounting the number of children missing out on childhood. This figure does not, for example, include stunted school-age children who are in school, young wives or mothers who are in school or children who have witnessed or survived extreme violence.