An estimated 1 billion children from the total of 2.2 billion in the
world are living in poverty. 33% (640 million) children do not have adequate
shelter, 500 million had no access to sanitation, and 400 million do not
have access to safe water. Furthermore, 90 million children are severely
deprived of food and 270 million have no access to healthcare services.
Statistics show that poverty is not exclusive to developing countries.
The proportion of children living in low income households has increased
over the past decade in 11 of the 15 developed countries for which comparable
data are available. Extreme poverty is considered one of the central causes
of conflict, along with poor governance. 55 of 59 armed conflicts that
took place between 1990 and 2003 occured within, rather than between, countries.
Children account for nearly half of the 3.6 million people killed in these
conflicts. Conflict also had a catastrophic impact on overall health. In
a typical 5 year war, the mortality of children under the age of 5 years
increased by 13%. The impact of HIV/AIDS on children is seen most dramatically
in the number of orphans to AIDS—now totalling 15 million worldwide. In
addition, AIDS is now the single largest killer of people aged 15-49 in
the developing world
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biological
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psychological
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social
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early adolescence |
early puberty
(girls: breast bud and pubic hair development, start of growth spurt; boys:
testicular enlargement, start of genital growth) |
concrete thinking but early moral concepts; progression of sexual identity
development (sexual orientation); possible homosexual peer interest; reassessment
of body image |
emotional separation from parents; start of strong peer identification;
early exploratory behaviours (smoking, violence) |
mid-adolescence |
girls: mid-late puberty and end of growth spurt; menarche; development
of female body shape with fat deposition Boys: mid-puberty, spermarche
and nocturnal emissions; voice breaks; start of growth spurt |
abstract thinking, but self still seen as "bullet proof"; growing verbal
abilities; identification of law with morality; start of fervent ideology
(religious, political) |
emotional separation from parents; strong peer identification; increased
health risk (smoking, alcohol, etc); heterosexual peer interest; early
vocational plans |
late adolescence |
boys: end of puberty; continued increase in muscle bulk and body hair |
complex abstract thinking; identification of difference between law
and morality; increased impulse control; further development of personal
identify; further development or rejection of religious and political ideology |
development of social autonomy; intimate relationships; development
of vocational capability and financial independence |
The challenges for young people :