End of childhood report, the many faces of exclusion

The index compares countries by a set of indicators representing life-changing events that signal the disruption of childhood: poor health, malnutrition, exclusion from education, child labor, child marriage, early pregnancy and extreme violence. These “childhood enders” are most prevalent where poverty, conflict and gender bias overlap to create toxic environments for children. Not surprisingly, the 20 countries characterized by all three of these threats all fall in the bottom third of the index. Half (10 countries) are in he bottom 20, and seven are in the bottom 10. Lost childhoods are a result of choices that exclude particular groups of children by design or neglect. A child’s experience of childhood is largely determined by the care and protection they receive, or fail to receive, from adults.