Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and rising inflation has pushed about four million children into poverty across Eastern Europe region and Central Asia, said United Nations children agency.
“Children are bearing the heaviest burden of the economic crisis caused by the war in Ukraine,” UNICEF said on Monday, reports Aljazeera.
The conflict and rising inflation have driven an additional four million children across Eastern Europe region and Central Asia into poverty, a 19 per cent increase since 2021”, it added.
Russian and Ukrainian children have been most affected for the war since February.
“Russia accounts for nearly three-quarters of the total increase in the number of children living in poverty due to the Ukraine war and a cost-of-living crisis across the region, with an additional 2.8 million children now living in households below the poverty line,” UNICEF’s data revealed.
The blow to Russia’s economy from Western sanctions has combined with its large population to produce the outsize effect.
“Ukraine is home to half a million additional children living in poverty, the second largest share,” UNICEF added.
Bd-pratidin English/Tanvir Raihan
