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Population:<\/strong> 31.1 million Life expectancy:<\/strong> 60.9 years Poverty<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Almost one half of the Afghan population (46%) lives below the poverty<\/a> line. According to UN statistics, Afghanistan is the second poorest country in the world. The gross national income per citizen\u00a0equals 370 dollars per year.\u00a0 By way of example, a judge or a teacher earns about 50 dollars per month.<\/p>\n Health<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n The child mortality<\/a> rate is particularly high in Afghanistan and, according to international records,\u00a0life expectancy at birth is considered to be the lowest.<\/p>\n Statistics show that 35% of newborns are underweight. Even today, 87% of deliveries take place in the pregnant mother\u2019s home and usually with no proper medical assistance. This is so because in the highly patriarchial Afghan society women do not often get permission to leave their home, even to go to the hospital. Therefore, 1 woman out of 8 dies during delivery.<\/p>\n A very limited number of hospitals exist in Afghanistan. Sometimes,\u00a0one would have to travel across hundreds of kilometers to reach one of these hospitals. Furthermore, the medical officers lack proper training and appropriate equipment.<\/p>\n In addition, approximately 70% of the population does not have access to drinking water<\/a>, which in turn results in a lot of health<\/a> problems, especially among the younger children.<\/p>\n Education<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Today, only around 60% of Afghan children are sent to school and\u00a0only 28% of the adult population is literate. In addition, the education system is\u00a0lacking\u00a0infrastructure. In Kabul the number of students in\u00a0some classes rises up to 60.<\/p>\n Afghanistan also holds the saddening record of being the country which has the highest number of terrorist attacks aimed at schools, at girls schools in particular.\u00a0 Even though the abolition of the Taliban has made way for children to go back to school, progress\u00a0has yet to be made when it comes to ensuring the security of students and guaranteeing the right to education<\/a> of every Afghan child.<\/p>\n Child labor<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n The child plays an important economic role in the Afghan family structure, mainly because the little money earned by their parents is hardly enough to feed the hungry mouths in the family. Additionally, due to cultural practices, Afghan mothers rarely choose to seek employment outside their homes. In this situation, the family relies upon the economic contribution of the child, even if it means the child is left\u00a0begging on the streets.<\/p>\n The consequences which follow their obligation to work are indeed tragic: absence of education, police violence and disease linked to pollution and to the drastically changing climate (In summer the temperature goes as high as 40\u00b0C or more and in winter the temperature could go down to -20\u00b0C)<\/p>\n Violence and exploitation<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Young Afghans are often made victims of violence<\/a>. In 2009,\u00a0around 250 children were killed during terrorist attacks.<\/p>\n Moreover, many among them are victims of sexual abuse<\/a>.\u00a0\u00a0About 1,500 incidents are recorded each year; unfortunately, the majority of the victims do not dare to reveal the unpleasant experiences they have gone through. Furthermore, most often the perpetrators are not taken to courts due to political reasons (former war lords or members of the government, corruption, etc). Only a serious change in attitude would save the Afghan children from being considered as objects prone to exploitation.<\/p>\n Child soldiers<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Under the Taliban regime, thousands of Afghans under the age of 18 were enrolled in terrorist groups, in one way or another. They were first \u201cbrain washed\u201d, then given training on the handling of weapons, and finally sent to war. Certain children, barely 6 years of age, were even used as child suicide bombers.<\/p>\n In the beginning of 2011, Afghanistan signed an agreement with the United Nations to stop the recruitment of children into the\u00a0national police;\u00a0after it was included\u00a0in the blacklist of the UNO since 2010. Thus the government takes the first step\u00a0in an important process which could soon mark the end of the era of child soldiers<\/a> and would help the already traumatized excombatants to reintegrate into civilian life.<\/p>\n The orphaned child<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n There are thousands of orphans in Afghanistan; this is, in fact, a direct consequence of the armed conflict which ravaged the country. Nevertheless, only a very few children are left to their own devices since the Afghan culture, mainly based on Muslim principles, makes it obligatory for Afghans to help children in need. Thus, orphans are generally taken in by members of the family or certain others in the village.<\/p>\n Unfortunately,\u00a0some \u201cadoptive parents\u201d treat these children as if they were little slaves. Sometimes the orphans<\/a> are discriminated amidst the guardian\u2019s own children and\u00a0their education is given secondary attention.<\/p>\n One can frequently observe a very strong desire towards employment by an\u00a0orphaned child just in order to \u201cpay back\u201d his adoptive family as a mark of gratitude. It is necessary to create organizations which would allow the children access to education and which would also listen to them in an appropriate manner, providing proper care.\u00a0A national plan for the protection of the child has already been launched to improve the situation.<\/p>\n Disabled children<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n The presence of numerous land mines in Afghanistan still results in regular accidents, sometimes even fatal ones, especially among the very young who often fail to recognize such sites.\u00a0Many Afghan children are handicapped<\/a> due to land mine explosions. Awareness campaigns and land mine clearance programs have been put in place by the government as well as by certain NGOs. Their objective is to free Afghan soil of landmines by the year 2013.<\/p>\n Child marriages<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Between 2000 and 2009, almost 40% of young women, when interviewed, confided that they were given in marriage before the age of 18. These early marriages<\/a> could result in serious health<\/a> problems among young women, especially when these young women are not yet ready to go through the experience of pregnancy.<\/p>\n Right to identity<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Only 6% of births are officially recorded in Afghanistan. As a result the majority of Afghan children have neither an official identity<\/a> nor a nationality. They are invisible <\/a>in the eyes of society.<\/p>\n This is particularly problematic\u00a0for Afghan children who are refugees after having fled the war. In refugee camps located in Pakistan or in Iran the number of child refugees\u00a0can be up to 1.5 million. \u00a0These children find their status illegal and thus they\u00a0are not entitled to any sort of a civil right as a citizen in\u00a0the country because they do not have an official legal existence.<\/p>\n
\nPop. ages 0-14:<\/strong> 42.6 %<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\nUnder-5 mortality rate:<\/strong>\u00a066 \u2030<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\nMain problems faced by children in Afghanistan:<\/h3>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.humanium.org\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/travail-enfant-un-shehzad-noorani-300x245.jpg\" "\\"Many")
In Afghanistan, around 20% of children are expected to work<\/a> in order to provide for themselves and for their family. Street vendors, water carriers, cardboard collectors, shoe polishers, taxi solicitors, domestic servants, assistants in boutiques, are the kind of odd jobs done by Afghan children.<\/p>\n