Save the Children, founded on April 15, 1919, has recently published its third Global Childhood Report, which shows significant global progress since the non-profit organization was founded 100 years ago.

The report shows that in the year 2000, an estimated 970 million children experienced ill-health, malnutrition, exclusion from education, child labor, child marriage, and early pregnancy. Nowadays, that figure has been reduced by one-third. 115 million more children are attending school, 11 million young girls have avoided child marriage, 3 million girls have prevented pregnancy at a young age, there are 94 million fewer child laborers, and 4.5 million children have escaped violent deaths around the world.

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Countries, such as Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Colombia, the Philippines, Mexico, and Ethiopia, have managed to overcome obstacles like corruption and war to make substantial improvements in the lives of children. Around the world, Save the Children’s “End of Childhood Index Score” has increased. As an example, Sierra Leone, a country once plagued by civil war and a brutal blood diamond trade, had managed to reduce their rates of infant mortality, child labor, and child marriages by half since 2000. And Rwanda, once the scene of a ruthless genocide, has cut infant mortality rates by 80% and teen pregnancy by 60%.

The Global Childhood Report 2020 reports that these changes are driven by a global movement for equality between the sexes. “As this report shows, rising education rates among women and girls have been critical to improvements in child health in Bangladesh and child protection in Afghanistan and India,” the report reads. “Investing in education programs for girls and increasing the age at which they marry can return $5 for every dollar spent. Investing in programs improving incomes for women can return $7 dollars for every dollar spent.”

The Millennium Development Goals (MDG), established in 2000, aim to eradicate poverty in all its forms by 2100. “A recent Brookings Institution study found as many as 19 million extra child lives – most of them in Africa—were saved because of MDG-accelerated action,” reads the report.

Other factors, such as advances in technologies like smartphones, social media, medical instruments, vaccines and drugs, have greatly benefitted the developing world. Nowadays, nearly 96% of humans have access to the internet compared to 58% in 2001.

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Mobile phones, which can be used to register births, enhance early diagnosis of HIV in newborns, monitor malnutrition in children, and educate young people about family planning, adolescent health and prenatal care, have also helped improve the lives of global citizens. Given the progress made in the last 20 years, there is reason to be optimistic about the future, as long as nations continue to work together and successfully battle other looming disasters such as climate change and terrorism.