ASIA/PHILIPPINES - 12.8 million children under 15 living in poverty

Manila (Agenzia Fides) – A new study by the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS) [ ] and the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), estimates that 12.8 million children under the age of 15 are living in poverty, an increase of one million over a three-year period. Forty-four percent of all Filipino children are living in poverty and also suffer from other dimensions of poverty like deprivations of food, shelter, health and education. According to the report, 9.2 million of the 12.8 million children are living in rural areas. 5.4 million children were deprived of at least one of the three dimensions of well-being - shelter, sanitation, and water - in 2006. In June 2009, the Child Development Index, released by the National Statistics Coordination Board, indicated the human development of children deteriorated in the period 2003-2006, when the poverty rate rose. (AP) (Agenzia Fides 17/09/2010)