In Ethiopia, 56% of the population is children of below 18 years of age. There are at least 200,000 street children in Ethiopia (about 25% are girls).Child prostitution is widespread. Poverty, adult unemployment, lack of alternative employment, orphan hood, parental death, socio economic vulnerability, etc. are some of the reasons that pushed the children to become prostitutes. About one million children have become orphans due to HIV/AIDS by loosing one or both of their parents. In Ethiopian there are 175,000 children below the age of 15 with some kind disabilities.

In Ethiopia, the number of vulnerable children (street, jailed or prisoner, exploited, abused, children at risk, etc.) is also high. The number of street children "of street children" (that sleep and work on the street) is estimated to exceed 200,000 and the "on street" (that work on the street and sleep at home) is also much higher than the above number.

The problem of Orphan and Vulnerable Children (OVC) in Ethiopia is broad and diverse. There are more than half million children that were orphaned due to HIV/AIDS only in the last few years and more children are also expected to become orphaned in the coming few years also. In addition to HIV/AIDS orphan children, there are also quite large numbers of other orphaned children.

Facts and figures

• There are about 40 million orphans in the world ( 11% are in the sub Sharan African region)
• 4.6 million Orphans in Ethiopia and out of which 12% are due to HIV/AIDS. This figure represents 11 % of child population.
• 18% households are taking care of orphans.
• Out of the total care givers 42 % are females.
• There are 1.6 orphans per household.
• 20 % of the orphans live out of their families.
• 6.1% of the orphans are beggars

Country Profile

Ethiopia is one among the poorest countries in Sub - Saharan Africa. The economy is based on subsistence agriculture and accounts for 85 percent of the total employment and more than two thirds of the total earnings.

Population

Ethiopia has a population of 71,066,000 people as per the projection made by CSA in July 2004. The average population growth rate is 2.73 percent.

The Ethiopian Population is young population. Out of the total population, children between the ages of 0-4 are 11,917,056 and those between the ages of 5-9 reach 10,421,979 and children between10-14 are 8,339,406, and children from15-19 years of age are 7,711,167.

The total number of children 0-14 ages reaches 30, 678, 441 (or 43.16%), and those between the ages 0-19 are 38,389,680 or 54 percent of the total population. The male female ratio is 50 percent each.

Economy

Ethiopia's economy is predominantly agricultural, and a source of livelihood for about 85 percent of the population. Ethiopia's 45 percent of foreign exchange earnings and 45-50 percent of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) comes from agriculture. The performance of the economy is poor, and to address the problem the government has adopted several policies and strategies. Some of the policies include Agriculture Led Industrialization (ADLI) and Food Security strategy.

Due to the poor performance of the economy, the poverty situation in the country is very high. As per the 1999/00 household consumption and expenditure survey made by the Central Statistical Authority (CSA), 45 percent of the population lives below absolute poverty line. The malnutrition rate is also high, 64 percent of children below the age of five years suffer from chronic malnutrition and 47 percent are under weight, and 50 percent of the population cannot afford the minimum food requirement of 2200kcal. Every year there is a population of 8 to 12 million that requires food assistance and the majority are children below the age of five.

Non-income indicators of quality of life also show low level of literacy; poor health condition and malnutrition are also proportionally high.

Poverty situation in Ethiopia

Urban Poverty

Poverty in Ethiopia is both a rural and urban phenomenon. As per the 1999/00 household consumption and expenditure survey and welfare monitoring survey carried out by CSA, shows increase of urban poverty compared to rural poverty.

The urban population of Ethiopia is 17 percent. Among the urban centers, Addis Ababa accounts for about 30 percent of the total urban population and four percent of the national population.

The average annual growth rate of urban centers is six percent, which is greater than growth rate of the national population.

Urban areas face problem of unemployment, which shows increment every year. The unemployment rate in urban areas is 22 percent as per the 1994 population and housing census, and among the unemployed, those from the ages of 15-39 are the highest in number.

Urban poverty contributes and aggravates the problems of vulnerable children. Some of the social problems that are related to children in urban areas include streetism, abusing the rights of children, child labor and exploitation of child sex workers.

Rural Poverty

Rural areas also face rapid population growth, and with the increase in population the existing resources could not provide support to the existing population. Agriculture being the major occupation for over 85 percent of the countries population it is under going through a very difficult situation. It is affected by erratic rainfall and drought for several decades. It also lacks improved farming technologies, irrigation, credit facilities and the like.

Child malnutrition is very rampant in both rural and urban areas but more in rural areas.

Situation of children in Ethiopia

The Ethiopian population is extremely young. About 18percent of Ethiopians are below the age of five, and about 44percent are under the age of 15.

Children in Ethiopia face a number of problems, such as, child abuse, exploitation, lack of access to social services; they are also victims of conflict, family separation, and to other similar and related problems. The following are some of the major problems of children due to the above causes.

Children's education

The literacy level among the population aged 10 years and above at country level is 29.2 percent; rural areas have the highest rate of illiteracy at 69.2 percent, and 21.7 percent in urban areas.

The net primary school enrolment attendance percent between 1996- 2000 is 47 percent, which is among the lowest in sub Saharan Africa. Lack of access to schooling mainly affects girl children.

Children's health

Among 1000 children born in Ethiopia, 110 die before they reach their first year and 160 (one of every six child) before they turn five.

The nutritional state of children shows that 1.8percent of children are severely wasted, 9.6percent of the children are wasted. 45percent of children are under weight and 57percent are stunted.

In the year 2000, 52percent of children under five in Ethiopia were stunted, or chronically malnourished. The following table shows the rate infant mortality and number of deaths in 2000.

Table 1 Rate of infant mortality and number of deaths

Source: The state of the world children 2004

The general health condition of the population is also very poor, 27 percent of the country's population is reported to have a health problem. Reported sickness incidence was higher for 26 percent of female, 24.2 percent for males and significantly higher in rural areas, 27 percent than in urban areas, which is 19.3 percent.

Child Labor

In Ethiopia, child labor is a very common phenomenon that affects the life of so many millions of children. A number of studies and surveys that were carried out on child labor by different organizations have revealed the severity of the problem and its impact on the life of the children.  

A survey made by the Central Statistical Authority (CSA) on child labor in Ethiopia revealed that 85% of children are engaged in some kind of activity and 52.1% in productive activity. In the rural areas, 89% of the children are engaged in agriculture and related activities. The Ethiopian labor law prohibits children below the age of 14 not to be engaged as employed worker, but, the practice is different from what is stated in the law.

Children are commonly involved in domestic chores, and assist in the agricultural sector by attending domestic animals, in weeding crops and harvesting. In the urban areas, children are often forced into labour due to poverty situation of their parents or guardians. 

Among the working children, 66% joined the labour force due to the need for assisting family business and 24% to supplement family income. The proportion of children working to assist self and get work experience was 29% and 4.1% respectively. Furthermore, about 68% of the children contribute to their family income 42% give all and 26% give partly. 

Child sex workers

A study made on child prostitution in 2003, in Addis Ababa identified that there are a number of child prostitutes work in different places and locations. According to the study, child prostitutes work on the streets, in small bars, in local arki or alcohol houses, in rented houses/beds and; in rent places for chat/drugs use.

The study has also identified major problems that have been faced by children engaged in prostitution include: rape, beating, hunger, etc. Among the child prostitutes about 45% have been raped before they were engaged in the activity and among the 45% rape victims, 48.9% of them were raped by street boys, 31.9% by adults and 19.2% by other boys who are not street boys.

According to the above study, poverty, adult unemployment, lack of alternative employment, orphanage, parental death, family disintegration - socio economic vulnerability, inappropriate education opportunities, premarital sex that leads to unwanted pregnancy are some of the major reasons that pushed the children to become prostitutes.

Child Disability

The 1994 population and housing census indicated that there were a total of 175,000 disabled persons below the age of 15 and accounting for 0.72% of the total number of those children that are under 15 years of age.

The disability problems identified during the census include those that are related to hearing - related problems, which is the most common form of disability among children (29% of total disabled children), followed by "leg problems" (26%), and vision - related problems (22%).

Streetism (Street children)

A number of studies and surveys were conducted to study streetism in Ethiopia in the last thirty years. According the study conducted by UNICEF estimated that there were some 150,000 street children in 1996, and that their number is increasing by as many as 5000 per year, but these figures represent approximations for programming purposes.

Orphan and abandoned children

In Ethiopia, there are quite a large number of orphan and abandoned children, but due to lack of appropriate data it is not possible to estimate their number except that of HIV/AIDS orphans.

The number of children orphaned due to HIV/AIDS in Ethiopia is estimated at 750,000 in 2000, which is largest size in absolute terms in the world.

The number of children who have themselves contracted HIV/AIDS was estimated at 250,000 in 2000, and is increasing rapidly. Hence, HIV/AIDS pandemic has become one of the major health and social problems that affects the young population of the country.

Among the children orphaned to HIV/AIDS only a small percentage receive support from different churches and humanitarian organization. Some of the children that are affected and infected with HIV/AIDS were forced to go out to the streets due to lack of support either by the community or the government. This indicates that in the coming few years time there will be more HIV/AIDS affected and infected children that will be coming out to the streets.  

Early marriage

In rural Ethiopia, about 75% of the females get married between the ages of 13-15 years old. Although the new family law states that the marriage age for girls is 18 years the practice is far from that. Early marriage is common in northern Ethiopia, and in other parts of the country marriage by abduction is very common.

 Alelign Melaku