Global Annual Results Report 2025: Goal Area 5
Every child has access to inclusive social protection and lives free from poverty.
Highlights
In 2025, more than 137 million children in 70 million households across 87 reporting countries were reached with cash transfers supported by UNICEF. This assistance helped families meet essential needs, while UNICEF continued to work with governments to strengthen national social protection systems.
UNICEF supported improvements in social protection policies, social registries, payment systems, case management and links to essential services. This work placed particular emphasis on gender responsiveness, disability inclusion and the needs of children and families affected by conflict, displacement and recurrent shocks.
Public finance for children also remained central to UNICEF’s work. With UNICEF support, 93 countries strengthened social sector budgets, while 98 countries mobilized international or private financing for social services. In fragile and humanitarian settings, UNICEF delivered US$559 million in cash assistance, including US$322 million in humanitarian cash transfers and US$237 million in incentive payments to frontline workers.
The launch of The State of the World’s Children 2025 and the Global Coalition to End Child Poverty helped elevate child poverty as a global policy and financing priority.
