Tackling the Coronavirus and protecting children living in poverty

Apart from its immediate public health impacts, the COVID-19 pandemic is likely to have wide-reaching economic implications.

As a global advocate on child poverty measurement, analysis and response, we have opened this space to share latest news and updates, high-quality research and knowledge products, tools and resources, webinars and other opportunities with the global community of practice.

Links to COVID19 response

Coalition members are working to support global and national efforts to protect the poorest and the most vulnerable families from the health and economic impacts of COVID-19 crisis. Find out how our members and partners are responding to COVID-19 below.

ATD Fourth World | ChildFund Alliance | Eurochild | IDS | OECD | ODI

OPHI | PEP | Save the Children | UNICEF | World Vision

Research and analysis

• November 2020 | UNICEF Mapping of COVID-19 socioeconomic impact assessments and child poverty analysis Timely, quality and context-specific assessments are critical to understand the scale and scope of the COVID-19 crisis, and to inform national policies and programmes to reach the most vulnerable children. Working closely with UN partners, international financial institutions and civil society organizations, UNICEF supports child poverty analysis and socio-economic assessments in over 100 countries across all regions. This page provides living list of published and upcoming reports that present preliminary findings from regions and countries.

• October 20, 2020 | UNICEF and World Bank joint study, Global Estimate of Children in Monetary Poverty: An Update. According to the analysis, an estimated 1 in 6 children – or 356 million globally – were living in extreme poverty before the pandemic. The report also highlights that the number of children living in extreme poverty decreased moderately by 29 million between 2013 and 2017, but progress made in recent years is concerningly slow-paced, unequally distributed, and at risk due to the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

• September 16, 2020 | Impact of COVID-19 on multidimensional child poverty by UNICEF and Save the Children. This new analysis reveals the number of children living in multidimensional poverty – without access to education, health, housing, nutrition, sanitation, or water – has increased by 15 per cent since the start of the pandemic.

• July 9, 2020 | Global Multidimensional Poverty Index 2020. The joint OPHI and UNDP global MPI report, Global Multidimensional Poverty Index 2020 – Charting Pathways out of Multidimensional Poverty: Achieving the SDGs, presents the key findings of the global MPI 2020. Half of the 1.3 billion multidimensionally poor people –  644 million – are children, and the COVID-19 pandemic could push additional 490 million people into multidimensional poverty. 

• July 7, 2020 | COVID-19 Aftershocks: Out of time by World Vision. As families' incomes plummet, millions more children go hungry and are forced to work and beg. World Vision has conducted rapid assessments in 24 countries across Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Asia confirming alarming predictions of increased child hunger, violence, and poverty due to the economic impact of COVID-19.

• June 29, 2020 | Number of children living in household poverty to soar by 117 million by end of year by Save the Children and UNICEF. The global socioeconomic crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic could push 117 million more children into monetary poor households by the end of the year, according to projections as of June 2020. The total number of children living in poor households globally could reach just over 700 million in the absence of any mitigating policies.

• May 20, 2020 | The socio-economic impact of COVID-19 in Uganda: Modelling one-off transfers by EPRI and UNICEF. Against the context of the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, the aim of this analysis is to model the impacts of the pandemic on the most vulnerable groups in Uganda, and identify most appropriate social protection responses to protect families and children.

• May 14, 2020 | COVID-19 Aftershocks: Perfect Storm by World Vision. According to the report, up to 85 million more girls and boys worldwide may be exposed to physical, sexual and/or emotional violence over three months as a result of COVID-19 quarantine.

• May 6, 2020 | Combatting COVID-19’s effect on children by OECD. The COVID-19 pandemic is harming health, social and material well-being of children worldwide, with the poorest children hit hardest. School closures, social distancing and confinement increase the risk of poor nutrition among children, their exposure to domestic violence, increase their anxiety and stress, and reduce access to vital family and care services. This brief discusses immediate measures government need to take to help children cope with the effect of the COVID-19 crisis.

• April 20, 2020 | The impact of COVID-19 (Coronavirus) on global poverty: Why Sub-Saharan Africa might be the region hardest hit by World Bank. Using household survey data (available on PovCal net) and growth projections for 166 countries from the recently launched World Economic Outlook, the authors estimate that COVID-19 is pushing about 40-60 million people into extreme poverty, with the best estimate being 49 million.​​​​​​​

• April 16, 2020 | Policy Brief: The Impact of COVID-19 on children by the UN. Inputting the forecasts from the IMF optimistic scenario into an IFPRI poverty model indicates an increase in extreme poverty (PPP$1.90 a day) this year of 84 to 132 million people, approx­imately half of whom are children, compared to a pre-pandemic counterfactual scenario. In other words, 42-66 million children could fall into extreme poverty as a result of the crisis this year.

• 9th April 2020 | COVID-19 could push 30 million African children into poverty by Save the Children. The authors estimate the effects of changes in consumption levels on poverty, using data from the World Bank’s PovcalNet database. Depending on the decrease in consumption, poverty headcount could increase to as much as 47% of the population, levels last seen in Sub-Saharan Africa at the beginning of the last decade. Under the more optimistic scenario, the consequences of COVID-19 would push more than 40 million people in the region into extreme poverty, adding up to a total of 495 million. In the more pessimistic scenario, 514 million people could live in extreme poverty, an increase of 59 million. With more than half of all people in extreme poverty being children, those estimates suggest that between 22 and 33 million children will be pushed into poverty by the economic consequences of COVID-19. 

• April 6, 2020 | Multidimensional Poverty and COVID-19 Risk Factors: A Rapid Overview of Interlinked Deprivations across 5.7 Billion People by OPHI. The authors explore deprivations in water, nutrition, and cooking fuel to predict a high risk from COVID-19 in terms of hygiene, weakened immune systems, and respiratory conditions. 3.6 billion people, or 62.6% of the 5.7 billion people living in the 101 countries of developing regions covered are affected by at least one COVID-19-related deprivation. They are ‘at risk’. 472 million people are deprived all three COVID-19 risk factors at the same time. They are at ‘high risk’.

• The impact of COVID-19 on global poverty | by UNU WIDER. The paper finds a potential increase in global poverty by as much as half a billion people. This would be the first time that poverty has increased globally in thirty years, since 1990.

• From pandemics to poverty: hotspots of vulnerability in times of crisis | by ODI. This brief outlines countries, sub-national areas and populations in or near poverty that need to be explicitly prioritised in the response to coronavirus.

• Assessment of the Initial impact of COVID-19 containment measures | by OECD

Lessons from past crisis

• Children of Austerity: Impact of the Great Recession on Child Poverty in Rich Countries: The book finds social protection measures played a major role in cushioning the impact of the crisis on households with children, especially if countries implemented fiscal stimulus packages at the onset of the crisis.

• Impacts of the Global Crisis and Policy Responses on Child Well-being: A macro-micro simulation framework: This paper, written by PEP researchers, provides a tool to attempt to predict ex-ante the impacts of financial and economic crisis, and possible policy responses, on households and their children.

• Simulating the Impact of the Global Economic Crisis and Policy Responses on Children in West and Central Africa: This PEP-led study simulates the impacts of the global economic crisis and alternative policy responses on different dimensions of child welfare in Western and Central Africa (WCA) over the period 2009-2011.

• Protecting Vulnerable Families in Central Asia: Poverty, vulnerability and the impact of the economic crisis: This paper provides an overview of the social and economic vulnerabilities of households with children in the five Central Asian countries, and assesses the ability of national social protection systems to address these.

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Webinars

• Poverty monitoring in the context of Covid-19 by ODI. This webinar brings together researchers, practitioners and policy makers to discuss the impacts of the virus and short-term policy responses on the world’s poorest, and the adjustments to immediate policy responses needed to prevent impoverishment, hunger and destitution. Learn more here

• Children and Poverty in the Era of Covid-19: How Remote Learning Exacerbates Inequality in New York City ATD Fourth World, Equity for Children, and The Center for New York City Affairs work in partnership to organize a webinar to create a space of dialogue among families living difficult situations and other actors in the education field in the face of Covid-19 in order to find solutions so that every child can learn. Register here

• Global webinar: Impact of COVID-19 on child poverty in Africa and beyond. Bringing the lived experiences of children in Africa, this webinar, hosted by the Global Coalition to End Child Poverty, will highlight how these experiences can inform policy responses and propose actions to mitigate the impacts of this disaster on children living in poverty. Register here

• Webinar: Child Care and Health During the COVID-19 Challenge by Equity for Children. Register here

• Poor Families and Children Facing the COVID-19 Challenge | by Equity for Children. Access the webinar recording and related resources here (in Spanish)

Community of Practice

• Facebook discussion group by PEP, involving primarily local researchers, on research and evidence related to the economic impacts of COVID-19 and policies to protect the poorest and most vulnerable.