Content Topic
Poverty
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Programme
Ending child poverty
UNICEF works to ensure equal opportunities and a decent standard of living for every child
Programme
The Child Guarantee: Phase III
UNICEF pilots innovative approaches aimed at breaking the cycle of child poverty and social exclusion
More resources
Programme
Ending child poverty
Child Poverty in Europe and Central Asia, Our goal: , By 2030, we aim to ensure that our support has helped governments in the region to reduce the number of children at risk of poverty and social exclusion by 6.6 million. , We work to shield children from the impact of poverty, help families lift themselves ou...
Flagship report
In Focus: Ending child poverty
The costs of child poverty are simply too high, for children, for communities and for entire nations across Europe and Central Asia. As well as undermining the prospects for each child, child poverty acts as a brake on national economic and social progress. And it is often ‘inherited’, with the deprivation that st...
Article
Who benefits from benefits?
Around the world, 333 million children live in extreme poverty. Children are twice as likely to live in extreme poverty than adults. The climate crisis, conflict, and inflation continue to drive increases in poverty in much of the world, including in Europe and Central Asia. One of the most effective solutions to ...
Article
How does poverty affect children differently?
No one benefits from poverty. But for children, whose bodies, brains and nervous systems are still developing, poverty's impacts can be particularly consequential – potentially leading to developmental delays, mental health issues, poorer cognitive development and long-term health problems, among other challenges...
Press release
1 in 3 children in Tajikistan lives in severe child food poverty, new report finds
DUSHANBE, 6 June 2024, – More than 431,000 children under five years of age in Tajikistan are experiencing severe child food poverty, making them up to 50 per cent more likely to suffer from wasting, a life-threatening form of malnutrition, a new UNICEF report reveals today. Child Food Poverty: Nutrition Deprivat...
Report
Support for the implementation of the European Child Guarantee in Greece
In 2019, almost 18 million children in the EU lived in households at risk of poverty or social exclusion, leading to an intergenerational cycle of disadvantage, with profound and long-term effects on children. To address the issue, the Council adopted in June 2021 a Recommendation establishing the European Child G...
Press release
More than 1 in 5 children live in poverty in 40 of the world’s richest countries
FLORENCE/NEW YORK, 6 December 2023, – Some of the world’s richest countries experienced sharp rises in child poverty between 2014 and 2021, according to data published today by UNICEF Innocenti – Global Office of Research and Foresight. Report Card 18: Child Poverty in the Midst of Wealth – the latest in the series looking at children’s well-being in OECD and EU countries – finds…
Article
Reducing poverty through support for children with disabilities and their families
Nearly 10.8 million children in Europe and Central Asia have disabilities, accounting for 1 in 17 children across the region. Their opportunity to lead fulfilling lives and fully and fairly participate in society depends on the extent to which they are supported and included in their homes, schools and communities...
Article
Deepening poverty lines
The economic fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic and war in Ukraine – combined with inadequate social protection support for children and families – have pushed more children in Europe and Central Asia into poverty and thwarted chances of escape for children already living in poverty. As a result, the number of child...
Report
Responses to disasters and crises through subnational social protection systems
This report presents key findings, lessons, and recommendations on how governments in Europe and Central Asia have responded to disasters and crises through subnational social protection systems. Using case studies from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Tajikistan and Ukraine the report identifies key p...
Article
“I’ll no longer carry him on my back”: Gero and his family find freedom with his first wheelchair
The slow-moving car we are riding in enters, Iztok (East), a neighbourhood in town of Tvarditsa, tucked in the folds of the Balkan mountains. This is where the town’s Roma population lives. And like many such neighbourhoods in Bulgaria, it is located on a sunny hillside with a nice view of the plain on one side an...
Report
Programmatic Update on Phase III of the European Child Guarantee (November 2022)
The following Programmatic Updates on Phase III of the Preparatory Action to the Child Guarantee provide a snapshot and progress from March 2021 to November 2022 of the ongoing work in each of the 7 pilot countries, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, and Spain to test the European Child Guarante...