Plan, the Childrens aid organization, issued a report with the following sobering statistics (Thanks, Al Mujahid):
- Nearly half of Asia’s 1.3bn children live in poverty, denied basic needs, says a new report.
- India has the largest number of poor children in Asia, with 80% of its 400m young severely deprived, it says.
- 600m Asian children under the age of 18 lack access to either food, safe drinking water, health or shelter.
- Of those, 350m were described as "absolutely poor", meaning they do not have access to two or more of a child’s essential necessities. [BBC]
Though Africa (especially lately) is the continent many of us associate with poverty and desperation, Asia has double the number of severely deprived children. Im ashamed of my ignorance of this fact. Its so easy to focus on Bangalore and Gurgaon, on starbucks-esque third places, on desirable India. I heard so much about Indias fabulous new middle class, I forgot that
Despite high growth rates in countries like India and China, millions of families were being left behind, according to the report.
Among the causes, the report said, were the pressure of rapid population growth on scarce resources, lack of access to education, health care, clean water or sanitation, caste discrimination, and weak governance and corruption.[BBC]
Around half of Indias children who are age five or younger are malnourished; additionally, India has more children working than any other country. Sixty percent of Indias youngest citizens are absolutely poor. In contrast, only 13 million or Chinas 380 million children are considered deprived.
China, the report said, had made "great strides in poverty reduction in recent years".[BBC]
Whats being done?
Child aid organisation, Plan, author of the report, has pledged to spend $1bn on poverty reduction in 12 Asian countries over the next decade.
It also wants rich nations to reduce subsidies given to their own farmers and to cancel Third World debt. [BBC]
Sigh.
