UNICEF report | Ojos de Cielo

Child poverty in Argentina

The situation of poverty in Argentina and, in particular of the poverty that affects children and adolescents, continues to show a worrying picture. The latest data analysed by UNICEF (2019) show that 42% of children and adolescents live below the poverty line (5.5 million boys and girls) and 8.6% live in households that cannot afford a basic food basket. For their part, 48% of children and adolescents suffer at least one deprivation of their basic and fundamental rights, set forth in the CRC (Convention on the Rights of the Child): education, social protection, adequate housing, basic sanitation, access to safe water and a safe habitat.{1}

Living in poverty during childhood means not attending school or learning, skipping one of the meals or going to sleep hungry, not having shoes or decent clothing, being deprived of medical care and being exposed to diseases, living in a home without drinking water, electricity, in unsafe spaces and in overcrowded conditions or face many other shortcomings. These realities have negative consequences, as does the possibility of their persistence in the next generation, and they compromise the present and future of the girls and boys who are affected, as well as the economic development and social welfare of the country.{2}

Sources:

{1)https://www.unicef.org/argentina/media/4776/file

{2}https://www.unicef.org/argentina/informes/pobreza-monetaria-y-privaciones-no-monetarias-en-argentina