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The child development index 2012: progress, challenges and inequality

The Child Development Index (CDI) offers a fascinating insight into how children are faring around the world. Key findings of this new edition of the CDI are: Overall improvement rates in child well-being almost doubled in the first decade of the 21st century; Developing countries experienced faster rates of progress than developed countries in the same period; Undernutrution remains one of the main factors holding back progress on children’s well-being as shown by the Index; and The proportion of children suffering from wasting – or acute weight loss – actually rose in the second half of the 2000s. The CDI monitors child well-being in 141 countries, aggregating data on child mortality, primary-school enrolment and underweight. Case studies on Tanzania – the highest climber on the CDI – Indonesia and South Africa are also included.

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