The global trends in child monetary poverty report released by UNICEF show that Sub-Saharan Africa houses 237 million extremely poor children, a 71.1 per cent of the world’s 333 million impoverished children.
Altogether, about 333 million children, or 1 in 6 children globally, are confirmed to be residing in households experiencing extreme poverty. This amounts to 52.5 per cent of the world’s 629.32 million people living in extreme poverty.
The study examined both global, regional, and national child poverty trends and used three international poverty lines of $2.15 (extreme poverty), $3.65, and $6.85. The smallest poverty line is considered more relevant to low and middle-income countries, while $3.65 and $6.85 Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) apply to high and upper-income countries. The average national poverty line for upper-middle-income countries is $6.85, while for lower-middle-income countries, it stands at $3.65.
According to the report, child poverty trends between 2013 and 2019 are based on the most recent data available in the Global Monitoring Database, while data for the years 2020, 2021, and 2022 were based on forecasts basically by using GDP growth rates which assumes that all households will experience equal percentage growth in per capita consumption or income.
The projected data indicates that during the peak of the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020, the child poverty trend moved upward, followed by a slow resumption of poverty reduction in 2021, but at a rate similar to the progress observed before the crisis.
The initial prediction suggested that 79.7 million fewer children would have been experiencing extreme poverty from 2013 to 2022 had COVID-19 not struck the world in 2020, the report asserted.
Nearly all regions of the world experienced a decline in the counts of children living in extreme poverty between 2013 to 2022. In the East Asia and Pacific region, the share of impoverished children drastically reduced by 61%, from 7.2% in 2013 to 2.8% in 2022. In South Asia, the concentration of extremely poor children decreased by 56% and a 23%decrease was recorded in Latin America and the Caribbean.
Europe and the Central Africa Region maintained a constant figure between 0.4% and 0.5%, while the Sub-Saharan Africa region recorded a moderate decline from 45% to 40%.
Contrary to the recorded decline in child poverty seen in other regions, the Middle East and North Africa’s share of children in extreme poverty skyrocketed from 3.4% to 10%. This makes the region the only area that saw an increase in child poverty in the years under review.
On the trend in regional shares of impoverished children, Sub-Saharan Africa hold the largest share of 71.11% in 2022. The region recorded a 30.8% increase from 2013.
Following Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia accounts for 18.6 per cent of the global population of destitute children. In total, about 90% of the world’s impoverished children are found in either Sub-Saharan Africa or South Asia, making both regions the hotspots of child poverty in the world.
Based on distribution by age group, children below the age of 5 have the largest share of extreme poverty in 2022 using the $2.15 PPP. The age group accounted for 18.3% of all children living in poverty. Overall, children between 0-17 are considered impoverished than their adult counterparts of age 18 and above, with 15.9% under 18 compared to 6.6% for the adult group.
Based on income groups using the $2.15 poverty line, lower-middle-income countries have the largest share of impoverished children accounting for 53.1% of the total figure in 2022. Burundi, Madagascar, South Sudan, and Malawi accrued the largest figures of 79.1, 86.8, 77.7, and 75.3 per cent respectively.
Conflict and Fragility
Exploring reasons for the uneven concentration of child poverty across regions, the study observed that children living in extreme poverty tend to be more prevalent in conflict-prone countries/regions than in stable economies.
A higher proportion of children from economically disadvantaged households reside in fragile states compared to non-fragile states. In 2022, 38.6% or 4 in 10 children living in extreme poverty were found in fragile states, whereas only 10.1% or 1 in 10 children were in non-fragile states.
Conflict dynamics in conflicted economies were often rooted in state weakness, ethnic and religious tension, corruption, and struggle over resource allocation and other socio-political loopholes.
They struggle with political instability, economic crisis, insecurity, and fierce social tension that harbors terrorists and different armed groups who may hide under the guise of fighting for public goods to penetrate the system. This exacerbates the susceptibility of the economy, which often has destructive effects on the most vulnerable group of the population leading to impoverishment and abject poverty.
According to the 2023 Global Terrorism Index (GTI), the Sahel region in Sub-Saharan Africa accounted for 43% of the global total of terrorism-related deaths in 2022, a stark contrast to the mere 1% recorded in 2007. The region emerged as the focal point of terrorism, surpassing South Asia and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).
73% of terrorism-related fatalities in the Sahel and 52% of all terrorism deaths in Sub-Saharan Africa in 2022 happened in Burkina Faso and Mali. These two countries witnessed significant surges in terrorism, with Burkina Faso experiencing a 50% increase to 1,135 deaths and Mali recording a 56% rise to 944 deaths.
Additionally, Five out of the 10 countries most impacted by terrorism in the Global Terrorism Index are in Sub-Saharan Africa; Burkina Faso, Somalia, Mali, Nigeria and Niger.
Evidence of restiveness and social upheaval in Sub-Saharan Africa only validates why the region is the hub of child poverty in the world.
Formidable global challenges like the COVID-19 pandemic, conflicts, swift population expansion, insufficient social safety nets, and climate-induced disasters have collectively led to a sharp upsurge in this anomaly.
Overall, the estimates show that 333 million globally live on less than $2.15 daily, 829 million survive on less than $3.65 daily, and 1.43 billion children live on less than $6.85 daily.
According to UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell, “Eliminating child poverty represents a policy decision. We need to intensify our endeavours to guarantee that every child can avail themselves of crucial services such as education, nutrition, healthcare, and social support while tackling the underlying factors contributing to severe poverty.” This is especially true as the world has just seven years to achieve SDGs goal 2, which seeks to eradicate poverty in the world.