Publications

In the 21st century, children’s identities are evolving, shaped by forces such as globalization, urbanization, demographic transition, climate change, digitalization, the COVID-19 pandemic and geopolitics. Identity is also at the heart of how many young people experience discrimination. Such experiences have led young people, in particular, to question entrenched beliefs, traditions, inequities and injustices related to identity.

These questions were at the heart of Leading Minds 2022, a conference held in by UNICEF Innocenti in Florence in November 2022. The conference involved leading scholars, scientists, innovators, influencers, philanthropists, governments and young people who gathered to discuss identity and the need to build positive child identities. This publication provides insight on this critical conversation. 

Best of UNICEF Research showcases the most rigorous, innovative and impactful research produced by UNICEF offices worldwide. While evidence highlights emerging issues, it also informs decisions and provides policy and programme  recommendations for governments and partners to improve children’s lives. 

This ninth edition brings together 11 powerful studies from around the world and across the five Strategic Goal Areas. How do South Asian youth feel about entering the world of work? What is the effect of climate-related hazards on access to health care? How has COVID-19 affected children and their families in the Republic of Moldova? With social and economic inequalities increasing and progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals lagging, rigorous research – answers to these questions – has never mattered more.

In an era of increasing dependence on data science and big data, the voices of one set of major stakeholders – the world’s children and those who advocate on their behalf – have been largely absent. A recent paper estimates one in three global internet users is a child, yet there has been little rigorous debate or understanding of how to adapt traditional, offline ethical standards for research involving data collection from children, to a big data, online environment (Livingstone et al., 2015). This paper argues that due to the potential for severe, long-lasting and differential impacts on children, child rights need to be firmly integrated onto the agendas of global debates about ethics and data science. The authors outline their rationale for a greater focus on child rights and ethics in data science and suggest steps to move forward, focusing on the various actors within the data chain including data generators, collectors, analysts and end-users. It concludes by calling for a much stronger appreciation of the links between child rights, ethics and data science disciplines and for enhanced discourse between stakeholders in the data chain, and those responsible for upholding the rights of children, globally.

Children and adolescents living in relative poverty – regardless of overall material conditions – tend to experience more interpersonal violence, family turmoil, and environmental hazards that increase risk of injury, engage in more health compromising behaviours (e.g., physical inactivity, poor nutrition, smoking), report lower subjective well-being, and exhibit more social skills deficits and emotional and behavioural problems.

As the data in this new edition of the Innocenti Report Card series show, in the past five years, rising numbers of children and their families have experienced difficulty in satisfying their most basic material and educational needs. Most importantly, the Great Recession is about to trap a generation of educated and capable youth in a limbo of unmet expectations and lasting vulnerability. League Tables, the flagship tool of the Innocenti Report Card series, rank the change, since the onset of the crisis, in the poverty levels of children and the impact of the recession on youth. The Report also explores the effects of the recession on youth seeking to enter or remain in the labour force in the middle of a recession.

Come dimostrano i dati riportati in questa nuova edizione della Innocenti Report Card, negli ultimi cinque anni è aumentato il numero di bambini e di famiglie che incontrano difficoltà a soddisfare le più fondamentali esigenze materiali ed educative. Cosa ancor più importante, la Grande Recessione sta per intrappolare una generazione di giovani istruiti e capaci in un limbo di aspettative insoddisfatte e di perdurante vulnerabilità. Delle classifiche forniscono una "graduatoria del benessere". Tali classifiche valutano infatti le variazioni, dall'inizio della crisi, dei livelli di povertà dei bambini e l'impatto della recessione sui giovani. Il rapporto esplore inoltre gli effetti della recessione sui giovani che cercano di entrare, o di rimanere, nel mondo del lavoro nel bel mezzo di una recessione.

Comme le montrent les données de ce nouveau numéro de la série des Bilans Innocenti, de plus en plus d’enfants et de familles ont eu des difficultés à répondre à leurs besoins matériels et éducatifs les plus essentiels ces cinq dernières années. Plus inquiétant encore, la Grande Récession est sur le point de plonger une génération de jeunes instruits et compétents dans les limbes d’attentes non satisfaites et dans une vulnérabilité durable. Des tableaux de classement indiquent l’évolution du niveau de pauvreté des enfants depuis le début de la crise et l’impact de la récession sur les jeunes. Le rapport étudie également les effets de la récession sur les jeunes qui cherchent à entrer ou à rester sur le marché du travail malgré la récession.

Los datos que se exponen en esta nueva edición de la serie Report Card de Innocenti demuestran que, en los últimos cinco años, un número creciente de niños y familias han tenido dificultades para satisfacer sus necesidades materiales y educativas más fundamentales. Lo que es más importante, la Gran Recesión está a punto de atrapar a una generación de jóvenes formados y capaces en un limbo de expectativas insatisfechas y vulnerabilidad duradera. Una serie de tablas clasificatorias reflejan los cambios experimentados desde el inicio de la crisis en el nivel de pobreza de los niños, y la incidencia de la recesión entre los jóvenes. También el informe examina las consecuencias de la recesión para los jóvenes que tratan de introducirse en el mercado laboral o intentan mantenerse en él en plena recesión.

This paper investigates differences in the perceived impact of the economic crisis between adults in households with and without children in 17 European countries, using data from the Life in Transition Survey 2010. It also explores the channels through which the crisis affected adults in households with children and the ways in which they coped with the decline in income or economic activity. Overall, adults in households with children were more likely to report an impact of the crisis, with larger differences in countries with higher rates of monetary child poverty. There is evidence that adults in households with children prioritised expenditure on basic necessities, while cutting back on luxuries and holidays, but many still reported reduced consumption of staple foods as a result of economic difficulties.

L’approche MODA s’appuie sur des études antérieures portant sur la pauvreté multidimensionnelle et englobe un vaste ensemble d’outils, allant de l’incidence des privations unidimensionnelles via l’analyse des chevauchements multiples aux taux de privation multidimensionnelle et à leur décomposition. La méthodologie MODA place l’enfant au cœur de l’analyse et se concentre sur les aspects liés au bien-être qui sont pertinents pour les enfants à certains stades de leur vie. En outre, l’analyse indique les privations simultanées dont les enfants sont victimes.

L’analyse du chevauchement des privations multiples (MODA) est une méthodologie mise au point par l’UNICEF qui propose une approche globale des aspects multidimensionnels de la pauvreté et des privations des enfants. L’approche MODA s’appuie sur des études antérieures sur la pauvreté multidimensionnelle et englobe un vaste ensemble d’outils, allant de l’incidence des privations unidimensionnelles via l’analyse des chevauchements multiples aux taux de privation multidimensionnelle et à leur décomposition. La méthodologie MODA place l’enfant au cœur de l’analyse et se concentre sur les aspects liés au bien-être qui sont pertinents pour les enfants à certains stades de leur vie.