UNICEF says about 30 million children in richest countries live in poverty

About 30 million children across 35 countries with developed economies live in poverty, according to a report released by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) May 29, 2012.

UNICEF says 13 million children in the European Union plus Norway and Iceland lack basic items necessary for their development, the UN Radio reported.

According to the Director of UNICEF’s Office of Research, Mr Gordon Alexander, the report analyzes levels of child poverty in industrialized countries using traditional measures of household incomes.

The report, Mr. Alexander adds, also looks at issues of deprivations that matter to children’s lives.

“That in particular could be issues like having a change in a pair of shoes, whether a child has the opportunity to go on holiday or whether they eat three meals a day, some very basic measures of deprivation,” the UN Radio quoted him as saying.

By Ekow Quandzie