1、The Future of ChildhoodThe State of the Worlds Children 2024in a Changing WorldiThe State of the Worlds Children 2024ForewordIn a world facing so many present-day challenges,one might ask why UNICEF is devoting this edition of The State of the Worlds Children to the future,specifically to the world

2、in which children will live in 2050.To answer that question,it is worth revisiting the first edition of this report,published in 1980.From that report,the words of one of my predecessors,James P.Grant,UNICEFs third Executive Director and global leader of the child survival agenda,are worth quoting a

3、t length:“An important part of UNICEFs task is to monitor the trends which affect the worlds children,to extrapolate those trends into a picture of the future,to re-examine them in order to determine what kinds of changes in the present might improve the future,and to allocate its resources to the p

4、oints of maximum leverage in bringing those changes about.”In the almost 45 years since those words were written,UNICEFs mission has not changed:We continue to monitor the trends that are shaping and reshaping the lives of children and young people,and we go on working and advocating for change toda

5、y with the aim of building a better world for the children and young people of tomorrow.This report picks up the baton of Jim Grants 1980 report and carries it forward.The theme of that earlier report was From here to 2000;the theme of ours is From here to 2050.In many ways,the world of 2050 will be

6、 very different from todays.It will be a world where,in many high-income countries,children will account for a relatively small share of the population.As we move further into the twenty-first century,the future of childhood will increasingly be in Africa:By 2100,there will be more children on the A