Every fifth baby is born in a crisis area

In crisis and conflict areas, more than 29 million babies were born last year, according to the UNO Children's Fund Unicef. This means that every fifth baby worldwide spent the first time of his life in the past year in chaos, conflict, insecurity and stress, Unicef ​​said in New York.

This often leads to the babies being malnourished and frightened, crying a lot, sleeping badly or becoming aggressive. Among the countries where newborns have particularly difficult living conditions, according to Unicef, are Afghanistan, Somalia, Yemen, South Sudan and Syria.

"In addition to the obvious direct dangers, the long-term consequences of such a launch into life can be catastrophic," said UNICEF chief Henrietta Fore. "What these families need is peace - but by then they desperately need more support to deal with the devastation around them - 29 million new lives and their future depend on it."

Video: This is how a childhood in Afghanistan looks like

Video

GMU

The extent to which children suffer from crises and conflicts was first made public in May by the relief organization Save the Children. The NGO investigated the situation for adolescents from 176 countries and summarized the results in a country ranking, the Global Childhood Report (read more here).

According to the report, around 690 million adolescents worldwide currently do not have a childhood worthy of the name. The situation is catastrophic, especially in sub-Saharan countries: Chad, Niger and the Central African Republic occupy the lowest places in the ranking. The ten countries with the fewest points are all in Africa.

The World Childhood Atlas

Situation for adolescents after the Global Childhood Report

Overall, according to the report, there are no progress in crisis and conflict areas. "The number of children, or forced to leave their homes due to conflict, has actually risen significantly since 2000," they say.

More than half of the world's refugees are adolescents, even though they make up only 30 percent of the world's population. "In a world where resources, knowledge and technology abound," wrote the aid organization, "we must not accept that countless children are still suffering today."