Millions of families and children throughout Colombia live in poverty.
Children living in poverty in Colombia face many challenges, such as food insecurity, violence and exploitation, and limited access to safe water.
Compassion works to release children from poverty by offering nutrition support, child protection and safe water initiatives.
Facts About Poverty in Colombia
Colombia is full of incredible places to explore. It’s home to the Amazon rainforest, the Andes mountains and miles upon miles of breathtaking coastline. And because Colombia is renowned for its Arabica coffee beans, you could explore it all with some of the world’s best coffee in hand!
If you were to visit Colombia, you’d meet beautiful people who’d greet you with open arms. And as you’d get to know them, you’d realize that many live in devastating poverty.
The most recent data from the World Bank shows that nearly 32% of Colombia’s population lives in poverty. Around 8.5% live in extreme poverty, surviving on $3.00 a day or less.
This amount is far from enough to meet a family’s most basic needs, such as nutritious meals and safe water, let alone medical care or education.
Living in Poverty in Colombia: Challenges Children Face
Children living in extreme poverty in Colombia face unique challenges that threaten their health and well-being.
Damaging Food Insecurity
An estimated 13 million people face moderate to severe food insecurity throughout Colombia. This means they don’t have enough food or don’t know where their next meal will come from. Those on the severe end may go a full day or more without eating anything at all.
The Impact of Food Insecurity
Sadly, for many children, food insecurity leads to damaging malnutrition. When a child’s body doesn’t get the nutrients it needs, it stops functioning normally. For example, a child’s immune system may fail to work as intended, leaving them vulnerable to serious disease.
The child’s body may also suffer from stunting (slowed growth) or wasting (child starvation), preventing them from developing — physically and mentally — as God intended. And that can affect them for the rest of their lives. Facing such severe hunger, a child can even die.
Higher Risk of Violence and Exploitation
In Latin America, many children face violence and exploitation. This harm takes many forms, from recruitment by armed groups and sexual abuse to child labor and gang violence. According to UNICEF, between 2015 and 2022, 53,318 children and adolescents were victims of homicide in the region.
The Impact of Violence and Exploitation
Children in poverty are especially vulnerable to violence and exploitation. Many children are left alone while their parents go to work. Parents desperate for money or even necessities like food may make desperate decisions, sending their children to work or even falling prey to the false promises of people who seek to exploit them.
And the consequences? They’re far-reaching.
For example, a child who suffers abuse could be left with serious injuries. But living in poverty, they may not be able to get medical care, leaving them in pain.
Struggling with an injury, they may not be able to grow as intended or even go to school. So as an adult, they may be unable to get a stable job, preventing them from providing for themselves or their family. And that’s just to speak of physical affects: The trauma and emotional scars can harm them for a lifetime too.
This could start or perpetuate a cycle of poverty that’s nearly impossible to break.
Limited Access to Safe Water
While most children in Colombia’s urban communities have access to safe water, many living in remote and indigenous areas do not.
For example, in the desert region of La Guajira, drought and low rainfall limit water access for the families who live there. Other remote regions lack water infrastructure like treatment facilities, forcing families to drink from contaminated sources like rivers.
The Impact of Limited Safe Water Access
When families must drink from whatever source they can find, they’re susceptible to dangerous diseases like diarrhea and dysentery. And because many also live in poverty, poor (or no) medical care worsens the impacts, threatening their lives.
Families may also have to spend time fetching water from safer sources, sometimes walking miles upon miles a day. Often, children must do the traveling so caregivers can work to provide, keeping kids out of school, away from friends and at risk of violence and exploitation along the way.
How Compassion Fights Child Poverty in Colombia
At Compassion, it’s our mission to release children from poverty in Jesus’ name. That’s why we partner with hundreds of local churches throughout Colombia to serve thousands of children who are struggling. Alongside these church partners, we fight back against the challenges children in Colombia face by providing:
Malnutrition monitoring and care: Each child we serve receives regular medical checkups and is monitored for malnutrition. If anything is wrong, we provide immediate nutrition support, ranging from nutritious food to therapeutic feeding and even nutrition education for parents.
Protection: Children in our program are surrounded by loving adults trained in child protection who teach children about their rights and how they can advocate for themselves. They vigilantly watch for signs of abuse or exploitation and intervene immediately if they see red flags.
Access to safe water: Through water, sanitation and hygiene (WaSH) initiatives as well as partnerships with organizations like Water Mission, we work to build water infrastructure like wells, filtration systems and boreholes, providing safe water to families in need.
Children in our programs also receive education, medical care and disaster relief, ensuring they have the care they need to thrive now and far into the future.
See Poverty in Colombia Through Marcela’s Eyes
As a photojournalist for Compassion Colombia, Lina Marcela Alarcón Molina has seen the impacts of poverty with her own eyes. But as a former sponsored child through Compassion, she has also experienced it in her own life.
Growing up in Medellín, Marcela experienced one of the most violent periods in the city’s history. Most families around her lost relatives — including her own. She sadly lost her older brother to a stray bullet.
When she was a child, her family didn’t have food. Marcela’s father also abandoned the family, leaving her mother to care for her and her siblings alone. Despite her circumstances, Marcela’s mom had raised her to know God — and she never lost trust in his faithfulness.
“I have seen God in all these things. He is good all the time. It was difficult to grow up in poverty, but when you have God by your side and when you recognize him, you can see his goodness in everything. He chose me.” — Marcela
God’s faithfulness was evident the day Marcela was sponsored. At the age of 6, everything began to change. She ate nutritious food for the first time and started receiving letters from her sponsor, who encouraged her to dream and work toward a better future.
And dream she did. Through the gift of an education, she became a professional photojournalist, equipped to leave poverty behind.
“I have seen God’s faithfulness throughout my life. My family and I have overcome poverty, and now I can help others and bring them hope.” — Marcela
You can read Marcela’s inspiring story here: The Story Only I Can Tell: Meet Marcela Alarcón.
Although children living in poverty in Colombia face many challenges, there’s hope. With the right support, children can overcome poverty and step into the brighter futures God has for them.
