Children are disproportionately affected by poverty. The Atlas Foundation is tackling this.
The Brutal Reality
According to research by the World Bank, Children continue to be disproportionately affected, comprising more than 50 per cent of those in extreme poverty, although their share of the global population is just 30 per cent. In 2024, an estimated 412 million children aged 17 or younger were residing in households living on less than $3 a day, the extreme poverty line.
Multidimensional
Poverty is not only a matter of income. UNICEF’s report in 2025 found that more than 400 million children are missing out on at least two essential needs, such as nutrition, sanitation, health care or education. UNICEF warns that the global funding cuts, conflict and climate change threaten access to the services that children rely on for their health and wellbeing. The consequences are already visible: UNICEF projects that 6 million more children could be out of school by the next year if funding shortfalls continue.
.
The Work Of Atlas
As a children’s charity, The Atlas Foundation works across 21 countries to deliver education, inclusion and health programmes for children and young people who might otherwise be left behind.
Since 2014, Atlas has reached and improved the lives of over 270,000 children. Its programmes run from London to South Africa, and from Cambodia to Argentina, in places where the barriers children face can look very different. In some, it is access to school. In others, it is health, safety or simply having somewhere to belong. Across all of them, Atlas works from the same belief: no child should be left behind.
