According to UNICEF's SOWC 2024 Report Global Child Population Projected to Stabilize at 2.3 Billion by 2050.
International
According to the State of the World's Children (SOWC 2024) report, which is a global flagship report of United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), titled "The Future of Childhood in a Changing World," the global child population will stabilize at around 2.3 billion by 2050, with a significant shift in regional distributions.
- As per the report, South Asia will remain one of the regions in the world with the largest child populations, along with Eastern and Southern Africa, as well as West and Central Africa.
- The report was released on the occasion of World Children's Day (20th November, 2024) in New Delhi, Delhi.
- Child survival and life expectancy: Globally, newborn survival rates increase by 4 percentage points from the 2000s to over 98%.
Main Points:- (i) The chances of a child surviving to the age of 5 have risen to 99.5%, reflecting a 1 percentage point increase since the 2000s. Additionally, life expectancy has significantly improved, with girls' life expectancy increasing from 70 years in the 2000s to 81 years, and boys' life expectancy rising from 66 years to 76 years.
(ii) The report has projected that children are expected to be exposed to extreme weather conditions at significantly higher rates by the 2050s compared with those in the 2000s:Nearly 8 times more children are estimated to be exposed to extreme heatwaves, 3.1 times more to river floods, 1.7 times more to wildfires, 1.3 times more to droughts, and 1.2 times more to tropical cyclones.
(iii) As per the report, 23% of global children are projected to live in 28 low-income countries in the 2050s compared to 11% in the 2000s.
About United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)
Executive Director : Catherine Mary Russell
Headquarters : New York
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