Every child counts: revealing disparities, advancing children's rights
Thirty years have passed since The State of the World’s Children began to
publish tables of standardized global and national statistics aimed at providing
a detailed picture of children’s circumstances.
Much has changed in the decades since the first indicators of child well-being
were presented. But the basic idea has not: Credible data about children’s
situations are critical to the improvement of their lives – and indispensable to
realizing the rights of every child.
Data continue to support advocacy and action on behalf of the world’s
2.2 billion children, providing governments with facts on which to base
decisions and actions to improve children’s lives. And new ways of collecting
and using data will help target investments and interventions to reach the
most vulnerable children.
Data do not, of themselves, change the world. They make change possible –
by identifying needs, supporting advocacy, and gauging progress. What
matters most is that decision-makers use the data to make positive change,
and that the data are available for children and communities to use in holding
duty-bearers to account.
