WASHINGTON: Half the world’s extremely poor are children and almost 385 million children were living in extreme poverty in 2013. Nine out of 10 of those children lived in just 20 countries, says a joint study of the World Bank and Unicef released on Sunday.

The study marks South Asia, including Pakistan, as the second worst in the world, with nearly 36 per cent children living in extreme poverty. More than 30pc of the children living in extreme poverty live in India alone.

“Since countries without data are not included in the analysis, the real share could be even higher,” researchers from the World Bank and the United Nations Children’s Fund warn.

“The political stability of a country matters. Children are most at risk of living in extreme poverty in countries that have experienced conflict,” the study says. “Nearly 58pc of children who live in such countries affected by conflict and fragility live in extremely poor households.”

In such places, the livelihoods of citizens are threatened by a range of factors, including inadequate national economic management, a lack of policies to combat inequity and a weak civil society.

The study — ‘Ending extreme poverty: A focus on children’ — finds that children in developing countries are more than twice as likely as adults to live in extreme poverty.

In 2013, 19.5pc of children in 89 countries were living in households that survived on an average of $1.90 a day per person or less, compared to just 9.2pc of adults.

The study points out that children living in poverty are almost certain to miss out on a good start in life. The consequences of inadequate nutrition, a lack of early stimulation and learning, and exposure to stress last a lifetime. They lead to stunted development, low levels of skills needed for life and work, limited future productivity as adults, and transmission of poverty down the generations.

The study warns that “neglecting children fails to build the human capital needed for sustained economic prosperity in today’s world”.

The researchers examined data from 89 countries representing over 84pc of the developing world’s population. They found that almost 385m children were living in extremely poor households in 2013.

“This cannot be explained by a large youth population. In fact, children are disproportionately affected, as they make up around a third of the sample population, but half of the extreme poor,” they warn.

The children are the worst off — over 20pc of all children below five years of age in the developing world live in extremely poor households, compared with nearly 15pc of 15-17 year-olds.

Children living in extremely poor households are concentrated in certain parts of the developing world. Sub-Saharan Africa has both the highest rates of children living in extreme poverty at just under 49pc, and the largest share of the world’s extremely poor children, at over 51pc.

Where a child lives within the home country also plays a role. Eight out of 10 of all children in extremely poor households live in rural areas. Over a quarter of children living in rural areas live in extremely poor households, compared to just over 9pc in urban areas.

It is not only extreme poverty that disproportionately affects children, but poverty more widely. The World Bank Group also looks at higher poverty lines — such as those living under $3.10 a day, which includes people living in moderate and extreme poverty.

When all those living on less than $3.10 are examined, children remain far worse off. About 45pc of children are living in households subsisting on less than $3.10 a day per person, compared with nearly 27pc of adults. Indeed, the analysis shows that across all possible poverty lines, children are the worst affected.

Published in Dawn, October 10th, 2016