NEW REPORT: Number of children living in deadliest war zones jumps nearly 10%

• Yemen tops the list of “worst conflict-affected countries to be a child”
• An average of 22 children a day were killed and maimed in 2021
• Escalation of the conflict in Ukraine expected to push number of children caught up in deadliest conflicts to unprecedented highs

Toronto, 30 November 2022 – More than half of all children living in conflict areas in 2021 – an estimated 230 million – lived in the deadliest war zones,[i] a 9% increase from the previous year, reveals new analysis from Save the Children released during the Africa Conference on Children and Armed Conflicts.

While the recorded number of incidents of killing and maiming in conflict has dropped by about a third since 2018, more than 8,000 children – an average of 22 a day – still died or were maimed in 2021. These numbers are tragically expected to rise in 2022 because of the war in Ukraine.

In its new report, Stop the War on Children: The Forgotten Ones, Save the Children also identifies the ten worst conflict-affected countries to be a child in 2021:

1. Yemen
2. Afghanistan
3. Democratic Republic of Congo
4. Somalia
5. Syria
6. Mali
7. Central African Republic
8. Nigeria
9. Burkina Faso
10. Myanmar

To create this list, Save the Children analysed armed conflicts all over the world.  It considered the intensity of conflicts; the number and share of children growing up with conflict-related violence; and the number of grave violations against children. Grave violations include: recruitment, abduction, sexual violence, denial of humanitarian access, attacks on schools and hospitals, and killing and maiming.

Zaid*, 9, from Yemen lost his leg in a shelling incident when he was playing outside with friends.

“It’s difficult to have no leg. I just stay inside and play with my toys,” said Zaid. “Before I got injured, I used to play football. I used to run and play with my friends, but then the shell hit me.”

The report also includes an analysis of how media coverage in the 10 worst conflict-affected countries has fared since the war in Ukraine escalated earlier this year.

Media monitoring platform Meltwater found that between 1 January and 30 September 2022, Ukraine received five times more media coverage than all 10 of the worst conflict-affected countries to be a child combined. During that period, Yemen – the worst country to be a child in conflict – had only 2.3% of media coverage compared to Ukraine.

While multiple factors can influence how donors distribute money, funding of Humanitarian Response Plans (HRP) for 2021’s worst conflict-affected countries to be a child were, on average, only 43% funded as of 4 November 2022 – leaving millions of children without access to life-saving essentials like healthcare and food, as well as education and protection services.

As of the 4 November, Syria’s HRP remained only 27.5% funded, while Myanmar’s was only 22.5% funded. Ukraine’s updated appeal, on the other hand, was 68.1% funded.

Danny Glenwright, President and CEO of Save the Children Canada, said:

“Children don’t cause or start wars, yet there’s no denying they’re the biggest and most vulnerable victims in any conflict. Save the Children works in some of the most dangerous, yet most ignored, countries in the world, such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, and Yemen.

“Children in these lethal war zones face risks of physical and psychological trauma, injuries, and even death. In 2021, an average of 22 children a day were maimed or killed each day, and this is only expected to get worse as conflicts around the world rage on.

“The media spotlight on the conflict in Ukraine is a daily reminder of the brutality of war and the physical and psychological trauma for children. But this attention also shows what is possible when there’s enough collective political and financial will to respond quickly with life-saving support.

“The world must continue protecting children in Ukraine, while also doing far more to protect and support children struggling to survive in war zones that don’t get as much media attention.”

ADDITIONAL STATISTICS

• About 449 million children worldwide—or 1 in 6—were living in a conflict zone in 2021, a slight drop from the previous year (450 million).
• Africa had the highest overall number of children impacted by conflict (180 million), followed by Asia (152 million), and the Americas (64 million).
• The Middle East was home to the highest proportion of children living in conflict areas, (1 in every 3 children).
• While Europe had the lowest overall number and proportion of children impacted by conflict, those numbers are expected to skyrocket in 2022 due to the escalation of violence in Ukraine.
• Verified incidents of the denial of humanitarian access jumped significantly in the last three years, mostly driven by incidents in Yemen and the occupied Palestinian territories (oPt).

Among its recommendations, Save the Children is calling on world leaders, donors, members of the UN, and NGOs to protect children by holding perpetrators of these violations to account, ensuring all relevant policies and legal frameworks are ratified and implemented, and prioritising funding for the necessary services to support children impacted by conflict to ensure their recovery and resilience.

Notes to editors:

*Name changed to protect identity

• Unlike UN reports, which cover a limited number of conflicts, our report provides an estimate for the number of children at risk in all armed conflicts around the world.
• A low-intensity conflict is defined as up to 25 battle-related deaths in one calendar year, a medium-intensity conflict as 25–999 battle deaths in a year, and a high-intensity conflict as 1,000 or more battle-related deaths in a year.
• Save the Children drew on the following sources for its analysis:
  • Updated data on the number of children living in conflict zones conducted by the Peace Research Institute (PRIO), Oslo based on Uppsala Conflict Data Program’s Georeferenced Event Dataset (UCDP GED) cross-referenced with population data from Gridded Population of the World (GPW) and from the UN (2021).
  • Analysis by Save the Children of the 2021 United Nations Annual Reports of the Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict (CAAC). The analysis also draws on previous Save the Children mapping of the number of grave violations in the reports on children and armed conflict from 2005–2020.
  • List of ten worst conflict-affected countries to be a child are based on data from UN CAAC and PRIO, outlined above.
  • Meltwater’s analysis of media coverage of Ukraine and the ten worst conflict countries to be a child is based on online articles in the 13 most common languages in the world: English, French, Spanish, Arabic, Hindi, Simplified Chinese, German, Portuguese, Bengali, Japanese, Korean, Russian, and Urdu.
  • Mapping of humanitarian financing for the ten worst conflict countries to be a child, plus Ukraine, from UN OCHA, accessed on 4 November 2022: https://fts.unocha.org/as

[1] Conflict zones with more than 1,000 battle-related deaths.

About Save the Children

Save the Children believes every child deserves a future. In Canada and around the world, we give children a healthy start in life, the opportunity to learn and protection from harm. We do whatever it takes for children – every day and in times of crisis – transforming their lives and the future we share.

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