Young People Today
It is often said that childhood is a time of happiness for all, even
"the happiest time of life." For many children, however, this
notion does not correspond to reality. In
industrialised countries, with low birth rates and high levels of
technological development, many young people live in single-parent
families. Often these young people spend a lot of time watching television
or playing video games on the computer. Sometimes they suffer from
physical or psychological neglect; in the worst cases, they are actually
abused or abandoned. Family tensions and marital instability also can
leave deep scars upon the developing child. In
poorer countries, the lives of many young people are made difficult
bymaterial poverty, malnutrition, illness and war. Every day 40,000 young
people in such countries die because of illness, malnutrition, or lack of
adequate health care. Forty percent of young people in the "global
South" live in poverty, and forty-two percent do not have access to
drinkable water. There are 130 million children who cannot go to school
and 250 million who must work.
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