Stay for children, stay with UNICEF
Global aid isn’t a handout. It’s a hand up for everyone.
Severe cuts to global aid are slashing lifelines for children as hospitals shutter, emergency stocks dwindle and immunization campaigns grind to a halt. No child should die from causes we can prevent. But as needs rise and risks spread, the world has turned away from humanitarian and development assistance.
An estimated 4.5 million children under five could lose their lives following unprecedented rollbacks in vital services. Another 6 million are likely to be forced from school by the end of 2026.
Giving help and hope to children in crisis gives something to us all. When we share vaccines, we stop diseases before they cross borders. When we provide education, we foster opportunity, not desperation.
The safer children become at home, the stronger the world grows together
For every dollar invested in children, countries see a ten-fold return, creating socioeconomic benefits that ripple across borders. That’s why investing in children’s well-being isn’t just the right thing to do for a few. It’s the right thing to do for us all.
Every $1 spent on education increases gross domestic product by $20 on average.
Immunization saves 4.4 million lives every year and has prevented 154 million deaths in the last five decades.
Clean water and sanitation prevent up to 1.4 million deaths a year, including hundreds of thousands of children.
Help us help them
What happens when we come together
With decades of support from partners and donors like you, we’ve already made a world of difference. Here’s how.
More children are surviving today than ever before.
Nearly 8 million more children in the world this year will reach their fifth birthday, compared to 1990 – a 60% decline in child mortality.
UNICEF and partners have contributed to this remarkable achievement by improving maternal and child healthcare services and strengthening disease prevention in countries across the world. Today, a quarter of all births happen in UNICEF-supported health centres.
Vaccines have saved 154 million lives in the last 50 years.
As the world’s largest vaccine supplier, UNICEF procures and distributes enough vaccines to immunize 45% of the world's children.
In 2023, UNICEF supplied 2.8 billion vaccine doses to 105 countries, safely reducing the scourge of preventable diseases that keep children from walking, playing and learning. Through widespread immunizations, polio is on the brink of eradication.
Safe water is available to over 2.1 billion more people compared to 20 years ago.
With support from UNICEF and partners, more than a quarter of the world's population gained access to safe and clean drinking water in the past two decades.
UNICEF leads coordinated emergency response efforts that keep children connected to safe water in roughly 85% of countries affected by crisis.
The number of children with stunted growth and development due to malnutrition has declined by 40% since 2000.
For more than two decades, UNICEF has been the world’s largest supporter of programmes to protect and promote breastfeeding, complementary foods and nutrient supplements, along with services for the early detection and treatment of severe malnutrition.
We secure up to 80% of global demand for ready-to-use therapeutic food.
In 2023 alone, UNICEF and partners reached over 300 million children with nutrition services, including 9.3 million who required life-saving feeding and care.
Fewer kids are out of school.
Roughly half of the world's primary-school-aged children were out of school in the early 1950s. Today, that's dropped to 10%.
UNICEF works with governments in more than 100 countries to keep children learning. Since 2021, we've supported over 25 million out-of-school children with access to education in a classroom, 30 million children with access to education through digital platforms, and nearly 60 million children with individual learning materials.