A knowledge resource selected by UNICEF for humanitarian practitioners everywhere

COVID-19 impacts on child poverty

The economic crisis generated by COVID-19 threatens to hit children and families the hardest. The number of children living in multidimensional poverty – without access to education, health, housing, nutrition, sanitation or water – may soar to approximately 1.2 billion, while an additional 142 million children are expected to fall into monetary poverty in 2020 alone.

Timely, quality and context-specific assessments are critical to understand the scale and scope of the crisis, and to inform national policies and programmes to reach the most vulnerable children. Working closely with UN partners, international financial institutions and civil society organizations, UNICEF supports child poverty analysis and socio-economic assessments in over 100 countries across all regions. Below is a living list of published and upcoming reports that present preliminary findings from regions and countries.