The war in Ukraine and the resulting economic slowdown have thrown another four million children into poverty in Eastern Europe and Central Asia alone, UNICEF announced in a study released Monday.
The increase in child poverty in the region studied, which included 22 countries, represents another 19% of children living below the poverty line after almost eight months of war in Ukraine, according to the International Emergency Fund for Children. of the United Nations (UNICEF), on the occasion of the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty.
“Children bear the heaviest burden of the economic crisis caused by the war in Ukraine,” considers the organization, in the study published today.
“Although children represent 25% of the population [dessa região]they also represent nearly 40% of the 10.4 million people who spent this year living in poverty.
According to Unicef, the Russian Federation is responsible for almost three-quarters of the total increase in the number of children living in poverty due to the war in Ukraine and the rising cost of living across the region.
In that country, it adds, more than 2.8 million children currently live in households with a standard of living below the poverty line.
Ukraine is next on the list, with another half million children living in poverty, ahead of Romania, which now has another 110,000 poor children.
“In addition to the obvious horrors of war – the deaths and maiming of children and the need for millions of people, including minors, to flee both their homes and the country – the economic consequences of the war in Ukraine are having devastating impact on children in Eastern Europe and Central Asia,” said Afshan Khan, UNICEF Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia.
“Children across the region are being swept up in the dire consequences of this war. If we do not support these children and their families now, the sharp increase in child poverty will surely result in loss of life, loss of education and loss of future”, she underlined. the regional director of the organization.
Unicef also warned about the scope of the consequences of child poverty, which, he said, “go far beyond the economic difficulties of families.”
The increase in child poverty this year “may result in the death of another 4,500 children before their first birthday and the dropout of another 117,000 children this year alone,” the study concludes.
Source: TSF
