The State of the World’s Children 2025 – Ending Child Poverty: Our Shared Imperative, published by UNICEF in 2025, highlights the urgent need to address both monetary and multidimensional child poverty as a global priority. The report stresses that child poverty is a violation of rights that affects health, nutrition, education, protection, and long-term development. While decades of progress have reduced some deprivations, overlapping crises — including conflict, climate shocks, and economic pressures — are slowing or reversing gains. UNICEF emphasizes that the solutions to end child poverty already exist, but political will and sustained investment remain essential to accelerate change.
Key Insights
- Scale and Nature of Child Poverty: Child poverty is both monetary and multidimensional, with millions of children experiencing simultaneous deprivations in health, nutrition, education, water, sanitation, and housing.
- Most Affected Groups: Younger children, children with disabilities, Indigenous children, those in rural or conflict-affected areas, and displaced/refugee children face the highest levels of vulnerability.
- Progress and Setbacks: Decades of improvement have been undermined by COVID-19, climate shocks, rising conflict, and budget constraints, putting children’s well-being at heightened risk.
- Proven Policy Solutions: Effective approaches include prioritizing child poverty nationally, adopting child-responsive economic policies, expanding social protection (particularly cash transfers), ensuring quality public services, and supporting decent work for caregivers.
- Global Crises and Responsibilities: Climate change, conflict, and debt burdens intensify child poverty; ending it is possible but requires coordinated global responsibility, political will, and a rights-based approach centered on children.
