State of the World's Children 2025

 

Ending Child Poverty: Main Takeaways from The State of the World’s Children 2025

Click here for the Executive Summary

Click here for the full SOWCR

See below the summary for a point by point outline

Summary

The new State of the World’s Children 2025 report delivers one of UNICEF’s starkest warnings in years: child poverty is rising again in many regions, and the hard-won gains of the early 2000s are at serious risk. The report calls this moment a “critical juncture,” with conflict, climate shocks, and collapsing international aid driving millions of families backwards.

Nearly 412 million children now live in extreme monetary poverty, surviving on less than $3 a day. An even larger group — 417 million — are severely deprived in at least two essential areas of life, such as education, nutrition, clean water, sanitation, housing, or health. The deepest poverty is concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, and the share of the world’s poorest children living in these regions continues to grow.

Progress is slowing. Global child poverty fell steadily from 2014 until COVID-19 hit. While there has been some recovery, the pace is far too slow to meet the Sustainable Development Goals. In fragile and conflict-affected states, the trend is even more worrying: child poverty rates there have risen to roughly one in two children. Sub-Saharan Africa, despite its growing young population, has seen almost no improvement in extreme poverty over the past decade.

Three converging crises are driving the reversal. First, conflict now affects twice as many children as it did 30 years ago, with displacement cutting off education and livelihoods. Second, climate shocks — droughts, floods, heatwaves — already affect one billion children, pushing communities deeper into deprivation. Third, the sharp and unprecedented cuts in development aid are undermining health systems, schools, and social protection. UNICEF warns that by 2030 these cuts could result in the deaths of 4.5 million additional children under five, and leave six million more out of school.

Debt is compounding the problem. Forty-five developing countries now spend more on interest payments than on health, and 22 spend more on interest than education. As public finances tighten, budgets for children are being squeezed just when needs are greatest.

The report highlights who is most at risk. Younger children face the highest rates of poverty; nearly a quarter of all under-fives live in extreme monetary poverty. Children with disabilities, children in rural areas, and those in informal settlements face multiple overlapping deprivations. Digital exclusion is becoming a major driver of inequality, with up to three-quarters of children in some regions lacking internet access at home.

One of the strongest sections of the report comes from youth themselves. In a global foresight workshop, young people from 10 countries described poverty not as misfortune but as the product of policy failures — broken school systems, unaffordable data and devices, absent mental-health support, rising hunger, and limited protection during crises. They also pointed to solutions they are already building: community food gardens, offline peer-learning spaces, youth-led mental health networks, and local initiatives to keep learning going during emergencies.

Across all this, the report is clear that child poverty is solvable. Countries that have made the most progress share five commitments: strong and sustained social protection (especially cash transfers), investment in quality public services, enabling work and income for caregivers, child-focused macroeconomic policies, and equity-driven approaches that reach those long excluded. The common thread is political choice. Where governments prioritize children — even in tough times — poverty falls.

The final message is blunt: the world has the resources to end child poverty, but it is not allocating them accordingly. Without a rapid shift in political will, an entire generation risks growing up poorer, less educated, and more vulnerable than the one before it. The window to act is closing, but the solutions are known — and the returns, for societies and economies alike, are enormous.

Point by Point Overview

1. Child poverty is massive, multidimensional, and worsening in key regions.

• 412 million children live in extreme monetary poverty (<$3/day).
• 417 million children are severely deprived in at least two essential areas (education, health, nutrition, water, sanitation, housing).
• The deepest poverty is concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, and this concentration is growing.

2. Progress has slowed — and in some places reversed.

• Extreme poverty fell from 507m (2014) to 412m (2024), but the pace has slowed sharply since COVID-19.
• In fragile/conflict-affected states, child poverty rose from 46% to 50%.
• Sub-Saharan Africa saw no improvement at all over the decade.

3. Three converging global crises are driving child poverty upward.

• Conflict: Twice as many children are touched by violence as 30 years ago; displacement spikes poverty.
• Climate change: 1 billion children live in high-risk countries; climate shocks push families deeper into poverty.
• Aid cuts & debt crisis:
• Aid cuts could cause 4.5 million additional under-5 deaths by 2030.
• Debt servicing now exceeds spending on health + education in dozens of countries.

Developing-country budgets for children are being squeezed from all sides.

4. Younger children, rural children, and children with disabilities face the highest risk.

• Under-5s have the highest poverty rates globally.
• 79% of extremely poor children live in rural areas.
• Children with disabilities face consistently higher deprivation.

5. Digital exclusion is becoming a new axis of poverty.

• Up to 75% of children in parts of Eastern/Southern Africa lack internet access.
• The digital divide is now a major determinant of learning and opportunity.

6. Youth perspectives show poverty is structural, not accidental.

• Young people describe poverty as the result of policy failures, not fate:
• Schools close or become inaccessible during shocks.
• Inflation and crisis push kids out of school and into work or early marriage.
• Mental health burdens go untreated.
• Digital exclusion locks out entire communities.
• Youth-led survival strategies — community gardens, peer schooling, radio learning — filling gaps left by failing systems.

7. Five policy pillars are proven to reduce child poverty (from cross-country evidence).

• Social protection, especially cash transfers.
• Accessible, inclusive, quality public services (health, education, water, sanitation, nutrition).
• Decent work for caregivers, especially women.
• Child-focused macroeconomic policies, including debt sustainability.
• Equity-driven approaches that target marginalized children.

8. But these policies only work when countries make children a national priority.

• Countries that reduce poverty do so because they:
• Protect budgets for children even during economic crises.
• Integrate poverty reduction across ministries.
• Commit politically to long-term investment in children.

9. The report warns of a “critical juncture.”

• Without urgent, coordinated global action:
• The world will miss the SDGs on poverty reduction.
• A new “indebted generation” may be created — children whose futures are compromised by choices made today.
• Gains from the early 2000s risk being undone.

10. The conclusion is blunt: child poverty is solvable — if we choose to solve it.

The report argues the world is failing not because of a lack of resources, but because of misaligned priorities:

• Massive military spending contrasts with shrinking investment in children.
• Debt service crowds out essential human development.
• Aid cuts are hitting when needs are highest.

The call to action: Refocus political and financial priorities on children now, before another decade is lost.