How much are countries spending to end violence against children?

Every year, more than one billion children – or half of the world’s children – experience some form of violence. Exposure to violence compromises a child’s mental and social development, hampers educational outcomes and reduces opportunities for gainful employment. It is estimated that physical, sexual and emotional violence against children costs societies 3% to 8% of global GDP.

In 2017, World Vision, together with Brave Movement, ChildFund Alliance, Global Partnership to End Violence against Children, Plan International, Save the Children, Office of the UN Representative of the Secretary-General to End Violence against Children and UNICEF, commissioned Counting Pennies, a review of ODA to identify how much international aid was spent to end violence against children. This initial review of 2015 data revealed that despite a series of global commitments, less than 0.6% was going toward ending violence against children. In 2021, we reviewed data from 2017 and 2018 and found a small increase - 0.96% of total ODA spending was going to end violence against children.

Since 2015, several countries have committed to accelerating progress in ending violence against children. However, progress has been slow and in 2022, the COVID-19 pandemic, conflict, climate change and a series of ongoing humanitarian crises have collectively placed more children at risk of violence than at any other point in the past 10 years. For the first time in decades, child labour rates have increased, and there have been multiple projections that child marriages will increase due to the effects of the pandemic.

Embedded below are the interactive data findings from our third review of ODA, looking at data from 2020 - the first year of the coronavirus pandemic. Alarmingly, we found that in 2020, the total ODA spending towards ending violence was just US$1,757.3billion – or 0.78% of total ODA spending. The amount spent per child was just US$0.64, the lowest since we began looking at data in 2017.

With a looming economic crisis, it is essential that world leaders recommit to ending violence against children by investing in social services and prevention. If they do not do so, tackling the consequences of violence against children after the fact can consume up to 5% of national GDP.  

For this latest iteration of the report, we've made as much of the data as possible interactive and dynamic. Please click through the data sets below to filter and highlight different elements by theme, country, donor, etc. Please note all numbers have been adjusted for 2020 price index.