Children and Armed Conflict: What Existing Data Can Tell Us

Second, the number of children affected will depend on the geographical spread of the conflict, which is a function of the physical terrain, the distribution of population centers, the (lack of) local state-capacity, the escalation of violence, and the presence (or non-presence) of peace-keepers (including UN personnel) throughout the country. [...] In the final sections of the report, we summarize the various indicators and examine the current state of the world’s children in conflict, and provide a ranking of the worst countries to be a child in conflict in 2016. [...] As the figure shows, although Asia has the largest number of children living in a conflict zone, the relative share of children living in conflict zones vis-à-vis children in peaceful areas is higher in both the Middle East and Africa. [...] So, in what countries was the risk of living in a conflict zone in 2016 the highest? The map in Figure 17 indicates the share of children out of the total child-aged population in each country living in conflict zones. [...] Figure 18 lists all the countries with on-going conflict in 2016 and report both the percentage of children that were living in the conflict zones (orange bars) and the conflict intensity, measured as number of battle-related deaths (blue bars) in 2016.