Social and Economic Policy

Country and regional highlights

The following publications and links include lessons-learned, models and helpful information on child poverty and disparities from around the world.

Central and Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States
No other region has been through such dramatic changes. Within a few years of the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, what were formerly eight countries splintered into 27. More than 400 million people have had to adapt to a transformed political, economic and social landscape. Visit the region's website to learn more about UNICEF's work fighting against rising poverty and falls in social spending exclude vast numbers of children from the benefits of economic progress.

East Asia and the Pacific
The Viet Nam report, Children in Viet Nam – Who and Where are the Poor? The Development and Application of a Multidimensional Approach to Child Poverty, is a product of a  three-year process to develop a child poverty index/rate in Viet Nam. Also read the executive summary.

Eastern and Southern Africa
Ethiopia
According to the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs there are between 150,000–200,000 street children nationally, with a further one million vulnerable or at risk of being on the street.  The root cause of the problem is typically reported to be widespread poverty, rapid population growth and displacement. Read about UNICEF's actions in Ethiopia on the country website.

Latin America and the Caribbean
In Latin America and the Caribbean, UNICEF has joined the UN Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean to step up collaboration to promote inclusive, universal and efficient public policies for children and adolescents. With half the countries in Latin America and the Caribbean considered middle income countries, a true reflection of how well services are being delivered, and rights protected, at the local level is critical to monitoring the well-being of children. In coordination with the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean and other UN agencies, a challenge for UNICEF in the region is the development of a reliable system to gather pertinent information from sub-national level, which would better reflect the social realities and disparities and the Global Study is a step towards such a development.

Middle East and North Africa
Djibouti, Egypt, Islamic Republic of Iran, Morocco, Occupied Palestinian Territory and the Republic of Yemen are participating in the Global Study from this region.

In January 2009, an international conference on child poverty and disparitites was held in Cairo, Egypt. During the conference, academics, policy makers, government officials, researchers and NGO representatives discussed and presented their research findings and policy recommendations for public policies that aim to reduce child poverty and disparities. Click here for presentations and papers from the conference.

South Asia
Of the 600 million children and young people in South Asia, a third live in poverty – more than anywhere else in the world. Social policy is critical for children because their developmental needs are urgent. If they do not receive a quality education, they are more vulnerable to child labour, exploitation, abuse, trafficking, and likely to remain trapped in a vicious cycle of poverty that will easily extend to their own children. Read more about UNICEF's work in social policy in South Asia on the website.

West and Central Africa
Democratic Republic of Congo
Read the child poverty and disparities report (in French) on the Global Poverty Study. 

Mali
Read the child poverty and disparities report (in French) on the Global Poverty Study.  Read an interview with Marcel Kanyankore Rudasingwa, UNICEF Representative in Mali where she discusses assessing child poverty and disparities towards better results for children in Mali.

Republic of the Congo
Read the child poverty and disparities report (in French) on the Global Poverty Study.