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Climate change, economic instability, conflict and digital inequality are disrupting children's lives and limiting their prospects, according to a new report published by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), a humanitarian aid organization on January 13, 2025.
The report Prospects for Children in 2025: Building Resilient Systems for Children’s Futures warned that the coming year will usher in a new and escalating period of crises for children globally.
The report emphasised the urgent need to strengthen national systems to shield children from crises and ensure they receive the necessary support.
The world is witnessing the highest number of armed conflicts in decades and it shows no declining trend, the analysis showed. In fact, escalating armed conflict will persist in posing significant dangers to children in 2025, it flagged.
Over 473 million children — more than one in six globally lived in areas affected by conflict in 2023, research showed. The share of children affected by conflicts has almost doubled to 19 per cent today from around 10 per cent in the 1990s, it added.
Conflict takes an enormous toll on the young population, according to the authors of the paper. Apart from risks to their lives, children face displacement and the threat of starvation and disease, they stressed, adding that there are also substantial risks to their psychological wellbeing.
Governments worldwide are finding it more and more difficult to finance essential investments in children, the study found. This pressure reflects on several factors, including persistent inflation effects, faltering development assistance and the long-running issue of low revenues from domestic taxation, the researchers underlined.
Nearly 400 million children live in debt-ridden countries and this figure is set to rise without major reforms, they noted. The expense of managing this debt is limiting crucial investments in sectors like education, health care and social protection, the report stated.
Among the 34 African Union countries with available data, 15 now allocate more to debt servicing than to education, according to the analysis. The World Bank estimated that each 5 per cent increase in external debt in low- and middle-income countries could reduce education expenditure by $12.8 billion.
Over 40 low-income countries spend twice as much on debt-servicing as on health, including countries with large child populations such as Indonesia (2.4 times as much) and Pakistan (five times as much), the findings indicated.
In social protection, debt service now consumes 11 times as much as social protection spending across developing countries, according to the analysis. The protection gap has widened — 1.8 billion children lack access to cash benefits, leaving them exposed to economic shocks that push families deeper into poverty, the researchers highlighted.
Only 2.4 per cent of multilateral climate finance is allocated to child-responsive initiatives, which support projects aimed at children, the data showed. As a result, the climate resilience of essential social services for children is deteriorating, the researchers pointed out.
Additional and targeted finance is critical to addressing loss and damage, they stressed. This, they added, could help rebuild communities, restore essential services to ensure continuing access to high-quality education during climate disasters, support recovery of healthcare systems and continuous nutrition programmes as well as provide psychological support to children affected by severe climate events.
To address the critical intersection of climate action and child rights, action is needed to make sure national policy frameworks clearly integrate child rights with specific commitments, timelines and funding allocations, noted the report.
Swift technological advancement will keep influencing all aspects of children's lives, from education and communication to their involvement in the digital economy, the authors emphasised.
One key trend is the emergence of digital public infrastructure (DPI), according to the report. DPI is a set of shared digital systems that can provide equitable access to public and private services. It facilitates the widespread provision of digital public services, including those for children, and is currently being swiftly embraced globally.
But persistent inequalities in digital access, particularly in least-developed countries, are a major barrier to ensuring DPI serves every child, warned the researchers.
While most young people are connected to the internet in high-income countries, only 53 per cent of youth (15-24 years) are online in Africa, the analysis showed.
Adolescent girls are particularly affected, as are children with disabilities. A shocking 9 out of 10 adolescent girls and young women (aged 15-24 years) are offline in low-income countries, the study indicated.
The UNICEF report concluded that implementing systems to improve children's lives and future opportunities is of utmost importance. These systems, the authors advocated, should focus on inclusion, fairness and responsibility, ensuring that children's rights and needs are at the forefront. Additionally, they must tackle present issues and also be ready for future challenges, establishing the foundation for strong societies, the researchers noted.