Read original report on “Save the Children” or read a quick summary below;
- A new report from “Save the Children” has found that childhood is the biggest casualty in conflict-torn zones. And millions of kids in the Middle East are being robbed of it.
- “As many as eight million children in the region have been forced to flee their homes, with the crises in Syria, Yemen and Iraq responsible for almost a third of all global displacement last year, the report, titled Stolen Childhoods, adds.”
- “Around 100,000 children in Yemen have died since the conflict escalated in 2015, some directly from violence but most from preventable diseases or malnutrition. The current cholera epidemic in the country is affecting more than 600 children every day.”
- “More than eight million children across the Middle East are now out of school, increasing the risk of early marriage, child labour and recruitment into armed groups. The growing risk of a ‘lost generation’ of children is likely to have a devastating impact on the region’s future development and stability, the report warns.”
- “In all, one quarter of the world’s children — 700 million — have had the promise of a full childhood brought to an early end. Apart from factors like extreme violence and conflict, early marriage and pregnancy, child labour, poor health and not being able to go to school are reasons behind this.”
- “The report includes a global index ranking the places where childhood is most and least threatened. Childhoods in West and Central Africa are most threatened. These include Niger, Angola, Mali, Central African Republic, and Somalia. Norway, Slovenia, Finland, the Netherlands, and Sweden are countries where childhood is the least threatened.”
- “Interestingly, Save the Children’s report found Yemen’s Sa’ada governorate showing the world’s highest stunting (impaired growth from poor nutrition) rates, affecting 8 out of 10 children.”
The End of Childhood Report and its U.S. Complement also found that:
• Every day, more than 16,000 children die before reaching their fifth birthday
• About one quarter of all children under five suffer from malnutrition, which stunts growth physically and mentally
• One in six school-aged children worldwide is currently out of school
• Conflict has forced nearly one child in 80 from their homes
• 168 million children in the world are involved in child labor – 85 million in hazardous work – which is more than all children living in Europe
• One girl under 15 is forced to marry every seven seconds
• Every two seconds, a girl around the world gives birth
• Every day, more than 200 boys and girls around the world are murdered
• An estimated 750,000 U.S. children drop out before graduating high school each year
• More than 541,000 U.S. children live in households with severe food insecurity and experience hunger regularly
• Nearly 230,000 babies were born to girls aged 15 to 19 in the U.S. in 2015
