This article was originally published by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty and is reprinted with permission.
Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine and the economic impact of the conflict have thrown an additional 4 million children into poverty across Eastern Europe and Central Asia — an almost 20 percent year-on-year increase, the UN children’s agency said on October 17.
“Children are bearing the heaviest burden of the economic crisis caused by the war in Ukraine,” UNICEF said.
The conflict “and rising inflation have driven an additional four million children across Eastern Europe and Central Asia into poverty, a 19 percent increase since 2021”, it said.
UNICEF based its conclusions on data from 22 countries.
The impact of the conflict has mostly affected children in Russia and Ukraine.
“Russia accounts for nearly three-quarters of the total increase in the number of children living in poverty due to the Ukraine war and a cost-of-living crisis across the region, with an additional 2.8 million children now living in households below the poverty line,” UNICEF found.
In Ukraine, half a million additional children were living in poverty, followed by Romania with an additional 110,000 children.
“Children all over the region are being swept up in this war’s terrible wake,” said UNICEF’s regional director for Europe and Central Asia, Afshan Khan.
“If we don’t support these children and families now, the steep rise in child poverty will almost certainly result in lost lives, lost learning, and lost futures.”
The poorer a family is, the greater the proportion of its income it must spend on food and fuel, leaving less for children’s health care and education, UNICEF said, adding that children are also “more at risk of violence, exploitation, and abuse.”
The sharp increase in poverty could prompt the deaths of an additional 4,500 children before their first birthdays and learning losses could be equivalent to an additional 117,000 children dropping out of school this year alone, UNICEF notes.
