Children are the future leaders of tomorrow. Everybody in this world is has a responsibility to look after our future generation by feeding them, providing education and guidance to grow up as good citizens. In this article, child poverty, one of the prevailing global issues in the world, is elaborated in detail.
People who are under 18 years are considered as children by many countries. As dictated by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) children who face poverty is living in an environment which is not secured, not having parental love and affection and not having the opportunity to enjoy the privileges and rights accepted by the society. According to the Townsend in 1979, poverty refers to the lacking of resources such as financial and physical resources for the individuals, groups and families to spend their lives happily and peacefully. According to the report published by Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) in 2013, nearly 2,265,000 people (12.8% of the population) are under the poverty line, and out of this, around 575,000 children (17.3%) are under the poverty line.
When there are more children in the families, parents do not have the capability of looking after them with their lower income, therefore, they send their children to work for others and earn money for their living. Children are considered as the future leaders, but these children are facing various hardships throughout their lives.
In most often, these children are not able to get three meals per day. They skip their meals and work for their families. The most pathetic situation is that these children are used to hide their hunger and thirst. Children grow up very fast and they need to have a balanced diet for their meals. However, children who are below the poverty line do not enjoy their lives.
According to the records of UNICEF, 10.9% of Australian children were living in poverty in 2012. Further, it stated that 50% of the children who are below the poverty line are gaining a median disposable household income. When considering the richest countries in the world, Australia is at the second place in terms of wealth per capita. Considering the poverty rates, Australia is at the fifth place led by the families having single parent out of all the OECD countries in the world. Therefore, everybody is responsible for looking after these affected children and helping them to grow up as good citizens to the world.
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