On July 7, 2020, World Vision released a major report called Out of Time. World Vision gathered field-level data from 24 countries. We surveyed 14,000 households in Asia, over 2,400 small business owners across Africa, and more than 360 Venezuelan migrants across Latin America.
World Vision's assessments show that COVID-19 is already affecting parents' and caregivers' ability to meet the needs of their children. Our assessment confirms that projections made by the UN and other global agencies about the impact of the pandemic on the extreme poor are already happening.
Millions of parents and caregivers have lost incomes and jobs due to COVID-19. Sixty-nine percent of people surveyed are reporting that they are currently earning less than half of pre-COVID-19 income.
We are expecting the following will be the main ways children will be further impacted:
- Families pushed into poverty as micro, small and medium enterprises lose income - these small farms and businesses are the employment backbone of most developing world economies - 92% of surveyed microfinance clients are reporting reduced income
- Hunger and malnutrition - 85 million households across Asia already have no or limited food stocks - 110 million children are now going to be hungry as a result - 83% of refugees from war and civil unrest surveyed are reporting food is scarce
- Rising risk of child labor and early childhood marriage - 8 million children in Asia have already been pushed into child labor and begging
- Children and families in fragile contexts - especially those fleeing conflict - will suffer the most - with few safety nets, 82% are reporting serious problems obtaining food as a result of the COVID-19 conflict
- Children living in city slums and informal settlements are at higher risk of hunger and abuse - travel and social distancing restrictions in cities are curtailing income earning opportunities - the same restrictions are preventing access to government food aid / rations.
