1.2B world children threatened by conflict, poverty

By Adem Salvarcioglu

ANKARA (AA) – More than half of the children around the globe are threatened by “conflict, widespread poverty or discrimination against girls”, according to a Save the Children report published on Wednesday.

The international nongovernmental organization’s report comes ahead of International Children’s Day being marked on June 1st.

The report entitled “Many Faces of Exclusion” ranked 175 countries where “childhood is most and least threatened as a result of poor health, malnutrition, exclusion from education, child labor, child marriage, early pregnancy and extreme violence”.

The report said Singapore and Slovenia rank first, while Norway, Sweden, and Finland are in the top five.

Niger ranked last for the second year running, while the eight of the bottom 10 countries are in West and Central Africa. Turkey ranked 64th.

The report also finds "more than one billion children live in countries plagued by poverty; 240 million in countries affected by conflict and fragility; and more than 575 million girls live in countries where gender bias is a serious issue."