1. Children in the world: A statistical overview

1. 1. Children in the world: A statistical overview “Children in Developing Countries” Lecture course by Dr. Renata Serra

2. A note of caution re: data • All statistics contain errors • Data from developing countries are fewer, contain many missing observations, and are of poorer quality than average • Statistical capacity ~ degree of development • At the same time, we have to work with the data we have

3. Quick comparison by world regions

4. Some facts • Children represent over 1/3 of the world population… • Out of 6.5 billion people in the world in 2005 children under 18 were 2,183 millions • … but up to 50% of the population in the poorest countries • Indicators of child well-being do not correlate too well with per-capita income • For instance, compare SA with SSA or EA&P with LA&C

5. 1. Infant mortality rates • IMRu1/u5 measures the number of children who die before reaching age of 1 (or of 5) per 1000 live births • IMRs are a fundamental indicator, which captures many components of well-being • IMR U5 is particularly bad in SSA • Out of the 30 countries with the worst ranking only 2 are not from SSA (Afghanistan and Cambodia) • 11 African countries have IMRU5 > 200 • 46 countries in the world have IMR > 100 (5 are from Asia and 1, Haiti, from LA&C) • See Ranking from SOWC 2006 (UNICEF 2006)

6. Infant mortality rates (cont’d) • Countries which have halved IMRu5 during 1990-2005 from over to under 100, include: • India, Bangladesh, Mongolia and Nepal in Asia • Bolivia in LA&C and Ghana in SSA • Brazil has also halved IMRs to 30 in the same period

7. 2. Nutrition • Undernourishment: insufficient calories (energy) to meet minimum physiological needs. On average, >2,100 kilocalories per day per person are needed • Malnutrition/Undernutrition:inability to maintain natural bodily capacities such as growth, pregnancy, lactation, learning abilities, physical work and resisting and recovering from disease • Measured not by how much food is eaten but by physical measurements of the body • Stunted: 2 SD below average height-for-age • Wasted: 2 SD below average weight-for-height • Weight for age is also measured

8. Nutrition (cont’d) • Malnutrition is most often linked to lack of appropriate nutrients: • Iron deficiency is the most prevalent form of malnutrition worldwide, affecting an estimated 1.7 billion people, half of whom suffer from anemia • Vitamin A deficiency weakens the immune systems of a large proportion of under-5 increasing their vulnerability to disease • Protein deficiency is also very common among poor children (‘big-bellied children’) • Child malnutrition is of high incidence in central and eastern Africa but the majority of undernourished children are found in South Asia • 30% of newborns have low weight in SA; 15% in SSA (Table 2 UNICEF 2007)

9. Under-weight prevalence among under-5 children in LDCs Source: UNICEF, State of the World Children 2007, figure 2.4

10. 3. School enrolment Source: Figure 2.2 Unicef, SoWC 2006

11. 4. Other measures of deprivation Source: Figure 2.3 Unicef, SoWC 2006

12. 5. Child poverty • Poverty is multi-dimensional concept: • Insufficient access to goods and services • Lack of freedoms (from hunger, diseases, anxiety, violence) • Being victim of violence and exploitation • Poverty concepts may have different meanings through space and time • Income poverty is often used to make international comparisons: • Absolute poverty lines are used for developing countries ($1 a day or $2 a day) • Relative poverty lines are used for developed countries (children living in households with < 50% of median HH income)

13. Child poverty in OECD countries Source: Unicef SoWC 2006, fig. 2.4