Children in an urban world

UNICEF’s flagship report, ‘The State of the World’s Children 2012 is being launched Tuesday in Mexico City under the theme Children in an Urban World’.

Around a billion children around the world live in cities and that number continues to grow.

In its report the UN children’s agency UNICEF says that for many children growing up in urban zones in many countries is not all it’s cracked up to be and can mean existing in a harsh environment..

According to the report’s editor Abid Aslam children growing up in slums such as Kibera in Nairobi, Kenya, and the favelas of Brazil are forced to endure violence, exploitation and lack of basics such as clean water and education.

The findings also call attention to the lack of data on conditions in slums as UNICEF Researcher Sue le Ba explains.
“Data is so important, it’s fantastic in that it eliminates the situation, the plight of poor children in urban areas”.
But the report also highlights positive trends.
It shows that where the excluded have been included in urban planning and decision-making such as in a number of Latin American cities, advancements have followed in literacy, infrastructure and safety. Listen to Lydia O'Kane's report