Childhood poverty in Mozambique: a situation and trends analysis

Almost half of Mozambican children still live in poverty

Published by: UNICEF Maputo / United Nations [UN] Children's Fund (UNICEF) , 2006
Via: Eldis

Mozambique has made significant progress since the end of the civil war, particularly in terms of post-war reconstruction, macroeconomic stabilisation, economic recovery and the rapid reduction of poverty. Despite notable improvements in child development, in addition to these other positive changes, the depth of poverty from which the country is emerging means that most children are still living in poverty. This report, from UNICEF in Maputo, provides a comprehensive overview of the socio-economic situation of the ten million Mozambican children, especially with regard to childhood poverty. It combines the official consumption-based measure with a deprivations-based measure of childhood poverty, which examines access to water, sanitation, shelter, education, health, nutrition and information. Some key findings include:

• 49 per cent of children face severe water deprivation, having access to only surface water for drinking or living more than 30 minutes away from a clean source
• 47 per cent of children face severe sanitation deprivation, meaning they have no access to a toilet of any kind
• 39 per cent of children are facing severe information deprivation, therefore have no contact with newspapers, radios or televisions
• 24 per cent of children between 7 and 18 years are severely deprived of education
• 17 per cent of children under five years are experiencing severe health deprivation - meaning they have never had any immunisations
• 6 per cent of children suffer from shelter deprivation, defined as living in conditions of severe overcrowding.