World's Poorest Countries

The world’s poorest countries are home to millions of children in desperate need. Families of many of the children in our programs live in extreme poverty, defined by the World Bank as living on less than $1.25 per day. Children living in extreme poverty throughout the world’s poorest countries lack access to clean water, healthcare and educational opportunities. According to The Lancet (May 2010), an estimated 21,000 children under the age of five die every day because of poverty — that’s one child every four seconds. A few easily preventable diseases such as pneumonia and diarrhea cause the deaths of millions of these children each year.

Adequate food, clean water and adequate sanitation are scarce resources in many of the world’s poorest countries. UNICEF estimates that there are 127 million underweight children in the developing world today. WaterAid.org reports that approximately 1.4 million children die each year as a result of diseases caused by unclean water and poor sanitation. In fact, water-related diseases are the second-biggest killer of children worldwide. A lack of food and clean water make a disease that would be a nuisance to a child in the developed world deadly to a child in poverty.

Poverty is more than just a lack of resources, though. It’s a lack of hope … a lack of options. UNICEF reports that worldwide, approximately 101 million children are not attending primary school. Many children in the world’s poorest countries do not attend school because they have to work to earn money for their family. Others cannot afford the uniforms, shoes or supplies. Without an education, these children cannot earn an adequate income to support themselves and, as a result, they remain stuck in the cycle of poverty into which they were born.

The following is a report from the United Nations documenting the least-developed countries in the world.  Compassion operates in eight of the countries indicated in the report. The countries where Compassion helps children in need are highlighted in bold:

Compassion International brings hope to children in some of the world’s poorest countries through our holistic, long-term child development model. Our one-to-one sponsorship program addresses the spiritual, economic, social and physical needs of children and enables them to see a way out of the poverty cycle and become responsible and fulfilled Christian adults.

You can help children in the world’s poorest countries.  You can offer a child in poverty the basic necessities of life and much more.  Give a child hope for the future and for all eternity.  Sponsor a child today!

http://www.unohrlls.org/en/ldc/related/62/