November 20 marks World Children's Day, founded in 1954 by the United Nations, to raise awareness of children's rights around the world and seek ways to improve their lives and livelihoods.
The Declaration of the Rights of the Child was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1959, while the UN General Assembly declared the Convention on the Rights of the Child in 1989.
This year's International Children's Day coincides with the 30th anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which throughout history has helped change the lives of children in different parts of the world.
UNICEF published a report illustrating the state of the world's children for 2019, including some figures and statistics, most notably:
- At least one in three children under the age of five is malnourished or overweight, while one in two children suffers from hidden hunger.
At the global level, at least one in three children under the age of five does not grow properly due to malnutrition in its most obvious forms: stunting, wasting, and being overweight.
Worldwide, at least one in two children under five years of age suffers from latent hunger due to lack of vitamins and other essential nutrients.
- Undernutrition continues to cause heavy losses. In 2018, nearly 200 million children under five were stunted or wasted while at least 340 million suffered from hidden hunger.
- Overweight and obesity rates continue to rise. Between 2000 and 2006, the proportion of overweight children aged 5 to 19 increased from approximately 1 in 10 to 1 in 5.
- The number of stunted children has decreased on all continents except Africa, while the number of overweight children has increased on all continents, including Africa.
Only 1 in 5 children in the poorest households and rural areas eat foods from the minimum number of food groups.
- 44% of children in the world do not eat any kind of fruits or vegetables.
- 59% of the world's children lack essential nutrients from animal-source foods.
- More than 29 million children were born in conflict-affected areas in 2018.
Where children lack proper development:
- East Asia and the Indian Ocean 17.2%.
- South Asia 49.9%.
East and Southern Africa 41.1%
- Latin America and the Caribbean 16.5%.
- Middle East and North Africa 32.4%.
- West and Central Africa 39.4%.
North America 11.6%
- Eastern Europe and Central Asia 22.5%.
Why?
While data are not available for some countries in the world because of the difficulty of accessing and collecting data, the high cost is by far the biggest obstacle that hinders mothers from eating and serving healthy food, followed by the lack of access to healthy food and inaccessibility. Many mothers have reported a group
Other challenges include young people's hatred of foods, their selective nature, and family pressure.