UNICEF DATA - Child Statistics

How many?

How many children are there in the world? How many are malnourished, are experiencing sexual violence or have died from COVID-19? Find answers to commonly asked questions here.

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UN Inter-agency Group for Stillbirth Child Mortality 2022 Estimation

Tragically, in 2021, an estimated 5 million children lost their lives before reaching their fifth birthday, and 2.1 million children and youth aged between 5-24 years died. Additionally, 1.9 million babies were stillborn. Two recent reports on the global situation of stillbirths and child mortality provide a sobering glimpse into where in the world children and pregnant women are at the greatest risk. These data underscore the urgent need to address preventable causes of death, as millions of children and babies continue to die needlessly, many before they even have the chance to take their first breath.

Publications

Child Food Poverty: A Nutrition Crisis in Early Childhood

What and how children are fed in early childhood determines their survival and shapes their growth, development and learning for the rest of their lives. But millions of children – especially the youngest, the poorest and the most marginalized – do not have access to the minimum nutritious foods they need during the time in their lives when good nutrition matters most. This brief sounds the alarm on the crisis of child food poverty – a state where young children are not fed the bare minimum number of food groups they need in early childhood.

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

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Publications

The power of education to end child marriage

Child marriage is a violation of human rights that limits girls in reaching their full potential. As the world rallies to accelerate progress against child marriage, understanding what drives change in how people think about the practice – and act – is key to its elimination. This publication uses data to illustrate how child marriage and schooling are related, showing the likelihood of child marriage among populations with different levels of education, as well as the educational status of girls who are child brides today.

Publications

Protect the progress: Every Woman Every Child 2022 Progress Report

Women’s, adolescents’ and children’s health and rights are facing setbacks to an extent that has not been seen in over a generation. This global progress report presents key data, trends and developments in women’s, children’s and adolescents’ health and well-being followed by a deeper dive into the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The report concludes with recommendations for accelerating progress towards the achievement of the 2030 Agenda even in such challenging times, with an emphasis on partnership and clear-eyed recognition of the consequences of failing to do better.

Publications

A Statistical Update on Birth Registration in Africa

Society first acknowledges a child’s existence and identity through birth registration. The right to be recognized as a person before the law is a critical step in ensuring lifelong protection and can facilitate access to all other rights. This publication presents the latest available data on the number of unregistered children living in Africa today. It also assesses progress over time and presents evidence for the amount of effort that will be needed in Africa to achieve universal birth registration by 2030.

Interactive data visualizations

Women's, children’s and adolescents’ health country profiles and dashboards

To structure and communicate a wealth of data on health, UNICEF and partners produced various resources and interactive dashboards that allow users to easily find evidence they need. This webpage provides an overview of ongoing data initiatives and brings all knowledge products together in one place. This is a one-stop shop to access most up-to-date resources on the progress in improving women’s, children’s and adolescent’s health around the world.

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