Newsman: The war in Ukraine and rising inflation has pushed an additional four million children across Eastern Europe and Central Asia into poverty. The United Nations Children’s agency UNICEF said in a report released on Monday. Children are bearing the heaviest burden of the economic crisis caused by the Ukraine war, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said in a statement. Children from Russia and Ukraine have suffered the hardest since Moscow’s war on its neighbor in February.
The report, The impact of the war in Ukraine and subsequent economic downturn on child poverty in eastern Europe, highlighted that children make up 25 per cent of the population but account for nearly 40 per cent of the additional 10.4 million people experiencing poverty this year. UNICEF obtained its conclusions from an analysis of 22 countries in the region.
The figure, representing a 19 per cent increase since 2021, showed that children were “bearing the heaviest burden” of the conflict, UNICEF said. “The conflict and rising inflation have driven an additional four million children across eastern Europe and Central Asia into poverty, a 19 per cent increase since 2021,” it said.
This accounts for nearly three-quarters of the total increase across the region, according to the children’s body.
UNICEF is calling for continued and expanded support to strengthen social protection systems in high- and middle-income countries in eastern Europe and Central Asia; and the prioritization of funding for social protection programmes, including cash assistance programmes for vulnerable children and families.
“Austerity measures will hurt children most of all – plunging even more children into poverty and making it harder for families who are already struggling,” said Regional director for Europe and Central Asia, Afshan Khan . “We have to protect and expand social support for vulnerable families before the situation gets any worse.”
“Children all over the region are being swept up in this war’s terrible wake. If we don’t support these children and families now, the steep rise in child poverty will almost certainly result in lost lives, lost learning, and lost futures.”
One in three children born and raised in poverty will live their adult lives in poverty, leading to an intergenerational cycle of hardship and deprivation, the study noted.
The impact of the war has been particularly severe for children in Russia and Ukraine.
In Russia, an additional 2.8 million children live in households below the poverty line, according to the study.
In Ukraine, half a million additional children were living in poverty, followed by Romania, with an additional 110,000 children. The UNICEF warned that a sharp increase could result in an additional 4,500 children dying before their first birthdays.
Afshan Khan, said the war’s economic consequences were devastatingly impacting children.
The study noted that one in three children born and raised in poverty would live their adult lives in poverty, leading to an intergenerational cycle of hardship and deprivation.
“We have to protect and expand social support for vulnerable families before the situation gets any worse,” added Mr Khan.
The report also said, the poorer a family is, the greater the proportion of their income that is committed to necessities such as food and fuel. The costs of basic goods soar, the money available to meet other needs such as health care and education falls.
This might result in an additional 4,500 children dying before their first birthday and 117,000 youngsters dropping out of school only this year, UNICEF estimated.
For many, childhood poverty lasts a lifetime. One in three children born and raised in poverty will live their adult lives in poverty, leading to an intergenerational cycle of hardship and deprivation, the study notes.
The study sets out a framework to help reduce the number of children living in poverty and prevent more families from falling into financial distress:
Provide universal cash benefits for children and ensure minimum income security.
Expand social assistance benefits to all families with children in need, including refugees.
Protect social spending, especially for the most vulnerable children and families.
Protect and support the delivery of health, nutrition, and social care services to pregnant mothers, infants, and pre-schoolers.
Introduce price regulations on basic food items for families.
UNICEF has recently partnered with the EU Commission and several EU countries to pilot the EU Child Guarantee initiative to mitigate the impact of poverty on children and provide them with opportunities to thrive in adulthood.
