UNICEF DATA - Child Statistics

COVID-19 and children data hub

The impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic are far-reaching and will be borne by children for years to come. For millions, learning has come to a halt and essential health services like the delivery of life-saving vaccines are out of reach. Others have been plunged into a lifelong cycle of poverty. Using the latest available data, this hub highlights the impacts of the pandemic on children’s poverty, education, health, nutrition and more.

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Publications

Progress on household drinking water, sanitation and hygiene, 2000-2020

In 2020, one in four people in the world still lacked safely managed drinking water services, nearly half the world’s population lacked safely managed sanitation services, and 2.3 billion people did not have access to basic hygiene services. Achieving universal coverage by 2030 will require a quadrupling of current rates of progress. Without a dramatic acceleration in current rates of progress there will still be 1.6 billion people without safely managed drinking water, 2.8 billion without safely managed sanitation and 1.9 billion without basic hygiene services in 2030.

Publications

Child Labour: Global estimates 2020, trends and the road forward

The latest global estimates indicate that the number of children in child labour has risen to 160 million worldwide – an increase of 8.4 million children in the last four years. 63 million girls and 97 million boys were in child labour globally at the beginning of 2020, accounting for almost 1 in 10 of all children worldwide. This report warns that global progress to end child labour has stalled for the first time in 20 years. According to the estimates, globally 9 million additional children are at risk of being pushed into child labour by the end of 2022 as a result of the pandemic.

We believe that consistent, credible data about children’s situations are critical to the improvement of their lives – and indispensable to realizing the rights of every child.

1 in 4

children under the age of five officially do not exist

160 million

children worldwide were in child labour in 2020

1.6 billion

children worldwide were affected by school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic

3 billion

people worldwide do not have a handwashing facility with water and soap at home

6-7 million

additional children may have suffered from wasting or acute malnutrition due to COVID-19

Latest statistics

Publications

Joint Child Malnutrition Estimates 2021

Though the full impact of the pandemic will take years to manifest, COVID-19 is expected to exacerbate all forms of malnutrition due to a loss of household income, a lack of available and affordable nutritious food, reduced physical activity and disruptions in essential nutrition services. According to the latest estimates, 149 million children under 5 were affected by stunting, 45 million suffered from wasting and 39 million were overweight in 2020. And these numbers do not yet account for the impact of the pandemic.

Publications

COVID-19 and School Closures: One year of education disruption

The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in the largest disruption of learning in history. Schools for more than 168 million children globally have been closed for almost a full year. With every day that goes by, these children will fall further behind and the most vulnerable will pay the heaviest price. The report provides an overview of school closures from March 11, 2020 to February 2, 2021 in more than 200 countries, relying primarily on the data from the UNESCO tracker of school closures and UIS database on school enrolment.

Publications

COVID-19: A threat to progress against child marriage

The COVID-19 pandemic is profoundly affecting the everyday lives of girls: their physical and mental health, their education, and the economic circumstances of their families and communities. Changes like these increase the likelihood of child marriage, and over the next decade, up to 10 million more girls will be at risk of becoming child brides as a result of the pandemic.

Publications

How many children and young people have internet access at home?

More than 90 per cent of the world’s education ministries have adopted some type of remote learning policy, and sought to “reimagine education” by harnessing technology. However, 2.2 billion — or two-thirds of children and young people aged 25 years or less — do not have internet access at home. Using the latest available household survey data, the report finds significant inequities between countries, regions, wealth groups and urban-rural settings.

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