Over 22,000 Children Died

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Today, Over 22,000 Children Died Around The World

        1 children dying every minute


  • 15 children dying every minute
  • A 2010 Haiti earthquake occurring almost every 10 days
  • A 2004 Asian Tsunami occurring almost every 10 days
  • An Iraq-scale death toll every 18–43 days
  • Just under 8.1 million children dying every year
  • Some 88 million children dying between 2000 and 2009
  • The silent killers are poverty, hunger, easily preventable diseases and illnesses, and other related causes. Despite the scale of this daily/ongoing catastrophe, it rarely manages to achieve, much less sustain, prime-time, 
  • headline headline coverage


Source For Children Death 
The term “Children” in this context means infants under the age of 5. The tragedy is therefore even worse if older children, adults, and the elderly are to be considered.These mortality figures are from UNICEF. 88 million covers deaths between 2000 and 2009, the latest figures from UNICEF at time of writing.The approximate number of deaths in those 10 years is calculated by averaging the deaths per year for known figures in that range and multiplying by 10 years, which gives a total of 88.1 million deaths.Given the population is increasing, the percent of deaths being reduced over those 10 years as just 0.05%.In a way, this feels like a very small reduction given that many of the illnesses and conditions that children suffer are easily preventable, technically.
The rate of reduction varies by region, with poorer regions having higher child mortality rates, though all regions are seeing a reduction as the years go by Taking a longer term view, since 1960 (when child mortality numbers were first being recorded) the annual number of child deaths has more than halved, from 20 million in 1960 to just 8.1 million in 2009.
Source For Haiti Comparison 
The BBC reports that “Haiti’s government says about 230,000 people died” in the devastating earthquake in January 2010, although later, a minister said there were 217,000 verified deaths.At 22,156 deaths per day, that would be 10.38 – 9.79 days.
Source For Asia Tsunami Comparison
Asian Tsunami in December 2004, notes that approximately 230,000 people died in that disaster.At 22,156 deaths per day, that would be about 10.38 days.
Source For Iraq Comparison
For the Iraq estimate, the John Hopkins study (reported in the Lancet) found 400,000 to 950,000 deaths since the 2003 Iraq invasion (average of some 655,000). 
Dividing 400,000 by 22,156 gives 18, and 950,000 by 22,156 gives 42.9
If Iraq Body Count statistics are to be used, then the number of days in which child deaths match the post 2003 Iraq death toll is just two or three days. The Iraq Body Count statistics are often criticized because they rely on mainstream media reporting, which is heavily censored and managed by the US in Iraq.
Poverty Facts and Stats
More than 80 percent of the world’s population lives in countries where income differentials are widening.The poorest 40 percent of the world’s population accounts for 5 percent of global income. The richest 20 percent accounts for three-quarters of world income.According to UNICEF, 22,000 children die each day due to poverty. And they “die quietly in some of the poorest villages on earth, far removed from the scrutiny and the conscience of the world. Being meek and weak in life makes these dying multitudes even more invisible in death.Around 27-28 percent of all children in developing countries are estimated to be underweight or stunted.Nearly a billion people entered the 21st century unable to read a book or sign their names due to illiteracy.Less than one per cent of what the world spent every year on weapons was needed to put every child into school by the year 2000 and yet it didn’t happen.

1 comment:

  1. Ritchie7 July 2011 at 05:00

    This is a shocking set of statistics. Children are the future and in this modern age, these figures are unacceptable. I remember seeing that figure of 20,000+ a few years ago and it saddened me then. The developed nations need to assist the developing countries much more than they're doing now to prevent these figures from increasing. There are the means but it takes more than that. What's needed as always is a greater political will from the international community.

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