A Double-Edged Sword: Protection Risks Facing Venezuelan Children During the COVID-19 Pandemic

World Vision's latest survey, conducted in September, confirms our fears of a rapid and dangerous deterioration of the situation, that thousands of children in Venezuela are facing life-threatening and future-crushing conditions. The most striking figures show that: 

1. 73% of families don't have enough food. Our research found that for an average Venezuelan family receives a monthly income that equals 0.9% of the price of the basic food basket—the monthly nutritional needs for a family of five. Hence, it is necessary to earn 116 minimum salaries to buy the basic food basket. Millions of children are facing hunger in urban and rural areas.

2. In order to obtain food, families have sold or traded their assets, intensifying their precarious economic situation. 

3. 21% of respondents said that the separation of children from their parents is increasing; and  

4. Nearly half (49%) of respondents said that child marriage is increasing due to the economic crisis that the pandemic has deepened.