Today is the International Day of Street Children: how many children are there in Ukraine
Kyiv • UNN
On the eve of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, according to official figures, there were between 100,000 and 200,000 homeless children.
Today, on April 12, various events are taking place in many countries around the world on the occasion of the International Day of Street Children, UNN reports.
The purpose of this event, which was launched in 2011, is to draw global attention to the problem of ignoring children's rights, raise awareness of child labor exploitation, and provide access to various services and development opportunities for street children.
According to the United Nations, there are about 30 million street children in the world.
A powerful wave of homelessness hit Ukraine in the first half of the 1990s. Its main causes were the economic crisis, unemployment, massive impoverishment of the majority of the population, a significant reduction in social guarantees, and an increase in crime. As a result, alcoholism and drug addiction among the population became a consequence of the lack of confidence in the future. All these adult problems directly affected the sharp increase in street children. Children were running away from dysfunctional families, some minors were kicked out of their homes by their parents, orphans were found on the streets because their relatives refused to help them, etc.
In the 2000s, the situation was stabilized. On the eve of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, according to official figures, there were between 100,000 and 200,000 street children. However, according to some reports, there were more than one million such children.
A survey of children who "ran away to the streets" about the reasons for their actions highlights a purely family component, namely: 38% of them were kicked out of their homes; 15% ran away on their own; 13% of street children ended up as a result of the family's financial inability to support the child; 6% experienced physical violence in the family; 55% of children have alcoholic mothers, 8% have drug addicts.
It is currently unknown how many street children there are in Ukraine and how the Russian invasion has affected their number. However, the experience of various previous wars shows that the number of street children in such moments definitely increases.
At the same time, the number of children at risk increased last year. In particular, in 2023, there were almost 7,500 more orphans and children deprived of parental care.
At the beginning of 2024, there were 4,936 such children in Ukraine.
