Advantage or paradox: The challenge for children and young people of growing up urban
The report, Advantage or Paradox: The Challenge for children and young people growing up urban reveals that not all children in cities benefit from the so-called ‘urban advantage’ – the notion that higher incomes, better infrastructure, and proximity to services grant urban dwellers better lives. Instead, urban inequality, urban exclusion, and urban challenges to well-being, such as environmental and health hazards, can together result in an ‘urban paradox’ where many urban residents – including children – miss out and suffer more severe deprivations than their rural peers.
The poorest urban children in 1 in 4 countries are more likely to die before their fifth birthday than the poorest children in rural areas. And the poorest urban children in 1 in 6 countries are less likely to complete primary school than their counterparts in rural areas.
Reading Development 