Hope for Children in a Hurting World

Poverty, hunger, human trafficking, child labor, political upheaval and natural disasters: These are just a few of the difficulties facing children worldwide. Any one of them can significantly endanger a child’s life, and all of them will most certainly prevent a child from growing and thriving. Nevertheless, there is hope for children facing these dangers.

No one organization can solve the problems affecting children around the globe. It will take a concerted effort by multiple non-governmental organization in tandem with local authorities and officials to recognize, diagnose and treat the ills of our hurting world.

Hope for children begins with seeing and understanding the issues that endanger them. Here are a few of those issues:

Poverty – According to the World Bank, 356 million children live in poverty worldwide. Poverty is defined as living at or below $1.90 per day. That’s one is six children in crisis who never have enough of life’s necessities.[1]

“1 in 6 children living in extreme poverty is 1 in 6 children struggling to survive,” said Sanjay Wijesekera, UNICEF Director of Programmes. “These numbers alone should shock anyone.”[2]

The World Bank reports in partnership with UNICEF states, “Although children make up around a third of the global population, around half of the extreme poor are children. Children are more than twice as likely to be extremely poor as adults (17.5 percent of children vs. 7.9 percent of adults). The youngest children are the worst off – nearly 20 percent of all children below the age of 5 in the developing world live in extremely poor households.”[3]

Hunger – According to the World Food Programme, “Across the globe, up to 828 million people do not have enough food and 49 million people are facing emergency levels of hunger. Indeed, parts of Yemen, South Sudan, Ethiopia and Nigeria may be close to or are already in the grip of famine.”[4]

For children, the effects of such lack go far beyond just feeling hungry. It hinders their , development and overall health. Without the right nutrients, they won’t be able to concentrate in school and will always be more susceptible to illness.[5]

Child Labor – A staggering 218 million children from ages 5-17 are caught up in some form of child labor, and 152 million of those children are in hazardous work conditions.[6] Most children in this situation are not going to school, are exhausted, and face constant dangers. Children’s mental health issues are also a serious and growing concern for those trapped in labor.


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