Children’s issues
The Pacific Island countries are home to about 2 million people of which just over 900,000 are children below 18 years of age. Some 400,000 of these children live in the five countries – Kiribati, Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu and Samoa – classified by the United Nations as least developed countries. Despite their relatively small population, the 14 Pacific Island Countries have unique challenges arising from their wide-spread geographical location (covering over 30 million km of ocean) and their wide cultural diversity. There are also different levels of vulnerability and economic and social development, both within and between countries. Social and economic development is constrained by geographic isolation, frequent natural disasters, limited domestic markets, inadequate infrastructure and capacity constraints. Globalisation, economic modernisation, and new lifestyle aspirations have created problems of cash poverty, lack of opportunity, social isolation, and inequality across the Pacific. Adding to these problems are unfavourable policies and regulatory environments for trade and private sector development in a region where governments tend to dominate many economies. While the average gross domestic product per capita improved from $1,484 in 1990 to $3,251 in 2000, Pacific Island Countries have made only moderate progress towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals. An estimated 17 per cent of the population lives on less than $1 per day. Twenty per cent of the Pacific population is aged between 15 and 24 years, and this age group has the most challenging demand for access to education, health and employment opportunities. Nineteen per cent of adolescent girls and young women aged 16-24 years are unemployed across the region. For adolescent boys and young men in the region aged 16-24 years the percentage of unemployment is eighteen.
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