Multiple crises set to plunge more children into poverty

The number of children without access to social protection is increasing year-on-year, leaving them at risk of poverty, hunger and discrimination, according to a new report released on Thursday by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and UNICEF.

According to the report, an additional 50 million children (aged 0-15) missed out on a critical social protection provision – specifically, child benefits (paid in cash or tax credits) – between 2016 and 2020, driving up the total to 1.46 billion children under 15 globally.

“Ultimately, strengthened efforts to ensure adequate investment in universal social protection for children, ideally through universal child benefits to support families at all times, is the ethical and rational choice, and the one that paves the way to sustainable development and social justice,” Shahra Razavi, director of Social Protection Department at the ILO, said.

Child and family benefit coverage rates fell or stagnated in every region in the world between 2016 and 2020, leaving no country on track to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal of achieving substantial social protection coverage by 2030, as per the report.

In Latin America and the Caribbean, for example, coverage fell significantly from approximately 51 percent to 42 per cent. In many other regions, coverage has stalled and remains low.

In Central and South Asia, East Asia and Southeast Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, Western Asia, and North Africa coverage rates have been at around 21 per cent, 14 per cent, 11 per cent and 28 per cent respectively since 2016.

Failure to provide children with adequate social protection leaves them vulnerable to poverty, disease, missed education, and poor nutrition, and increases risk of child marriage and child labour.