A new study published today for UNICEF by the Townsend Centre for International Poverty Research at the University of Bristol and the London School of Economics has produced the first scientific measurements of child poverty in the developing world.

Launched by Mary Robinson at the London School of Economics and by senior figures at the House of Commons, it shows that over one billion children (more than half of those living in developing countries), suffer from severe deprivation and 674 million (over a third) are living in conditions of absolute poverty.

Dave Gordon, Professor of Social Justice at the University of Bristol and one of the authors of the report, Child poverty in the developing world, says: "Many of the children surveyed who were living in absolute poverty will have died or had their health profoundly damaged by the time the report is published, as a direct consequence of their appalling living conditions. Many others will have had their development so severely impaired that they may be unable to escape from a lifetime of grinding poverty."

Based on a sample of nearly 1.2 million children from 46 developing countries - the largest and most accurate sample of children ever assembled - the researchers found:

• Over six hundred million (34%) children are living in dwellings with more than five people per room or which have a mud floor;
• Over half a billion children (31%) have no kind of toilet facility;
• Nearly 376 million (20%) of children use unsafe water sources or have more than a 15-minute walk to water;
• 134 million children aged between 7 and 18 (13%) have never been to school;
• 91 million children under 5 (15%) are severely malnourished;
• 265 million children (15%) have never received any immunisations or have chronic, untreated diarrhoea;
• Nearly 450 million aged between 3 and 18 (25%) have no access to a radio, television, telephone, or newspapers at home.

The study found significant differences between regions, with Sub-Saharan Africa having the highest rates of severe deprivation with respect to four of the seven indicators - shelter, water, education and health. There were also clear gender differences, particularly with regards to education deprivation, with girls 60% more likely to be severely educationally deprived. Girls in the Middle East and North Africa region are three times more likely than boys to be educationally deprived. Children in rural areas are much more likely to be severely deprived than urban children, particularly with regards to water, sanitation and education. In a number of countries, absolute poverty rates among children in rural areas are as high as 90%.

The report concludes that anti-poverty strategies need to respond to local conditions, and that blanket solutions to eradicating child poverty will be unsuccessful. Considerably more emphasis needs to be placed on improving basic infrastructure and social services for families with children, particularly with regards to shelter and sanitation in rural areas. An international investment fund for payment towards national schemes of child benefit in cash or kind is suggested as a means to provide the impetus for rapid fulfilment of children's fundamental rights to social security and an adequate standard of living.

Shailen Nandy at the University of Bristol and one of the co-authors of the report says:"At this rate the UN Millennium Development Goals are unlikely to be met, given declining international commitment to development aid. The results of cutting public spending on basic social services have been an increase in poverty and inequality, a fact which organisations like the World Bank need to acknowledge."

For copies of the report please go to www.policypress.org.uk or call The Policy Press on tel + 44 (0)117 331 4054.