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Letter asks governments around the world to protect women activists

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Letter asks governments around the world to protect women activists

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Girls and boys see gender inequality in their homes and communities every day - in textbooks, in the media and among the adults who care for them.

Parents may assume unequal responsibility for household work, with mothers bearing the brunt of caregiving and chores. The majority of low-skilled and underpaid community health workers who attend to children are also women, with limited opportunity for professional growth.

And in schools, many girls receive less support than boys to pursue the studies they choose. This happens for a variety of reasons: The safety, hygiene and sanitation needs of girls may be neglected, barring them from regularly attending class. Discriminatory teaching practices and education materials also produce gender gaps in learning and skills development. As a result, nearly 1 in 4 girls between the ages of 15 and 19 are neither employed nor in education or training - compared to 1 in 10 boys.

Worldwide, nearly 1 in 4 girls between the ages of 15 and 19 are neither employed nor in education or training - compared to 1 in 10 boys.

Yet, in early childhood, gender disparities start out small. Girls have higher survival rates at birth, are more likely to be developmentally on track, and are just as likely to participate in preschool. Among those who reach secondary school, girls tend to outperform boys in reading across every country where data are available.

But the onset of adolescence can bring significant barriers to girls' well-being. Gender norms and discrimination heighten their risk of unwanted pregnancy, HIV and AIDS, and malnutrition. Especially in emergency settings and in places where menstruation remains taboo, girls are cut off from the information and supplies they need to stay healthy and safe.

In its most insidious form, gender inequality turns violent. Some 1 in 20 girls between the ages of 15 and 19 - around 13 million - have experienced forced sex. In times of both peace and conflict, adolescent girls face the highest risk of gender-based violence. Hundreds of millions of girls worldwide are still subjected to child marriage and female genital mutilation - even though both have been internationally recognized as human rights violations. And violence can occur at birth, like in places where female infanticide is known to persist.

Some 1 in 20 girls between the ages of 15 and 19 - around 13 million globally - have experienced forced sex in their lifetimes.

Harmful gender norms are perpetuated at the highest levels. In some countries, they become entrenched in laws and policies that fail to uphold - or that even violate - girls' rights, like laws that restrict women from inheriting property. Boys also suffer from gender norms: Social conceptions of masculinity can fuel child labour, gang violence, disengagement from school, and recruitment into armed groups.

Despite major hurdles that still deny them equal rights, girls refuse to limit their ambitions. Since the signing of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action in 1995 - the most comprehensive policy agenda for gender equality - the world has seen uneven progress.

More and more girls are attending and completing school, and fewer are getting married or becoming mothers while still children themselves. But discrimination and limiting stereotypes remain rife. Technological change and humanitarian emergencies are also confronting girls with new challenges, while old ones - violence, institutionalized biases, poor learning and life opportunities - persist.

That's why girls from all walks of life are boldly raising their voices against inequality. Girl-led movements are stopping child marriage and female genital mutilation, demanding action on climate change, and trail-blazing in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) - asserting their power as global change-makers.

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Equal rights and opportunities for girls and boys help all children fulfil their potential.

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In the fight for equal rights, women's work is still not done

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In the fight for equal rights, women's work is still not done

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Saudi Arabia to finally allow women drivers

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Saudi Arabia to finally allow women drivers

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In Saudi Arabia, girls and women fight for their right to play basketball

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In Saudi Arabia, girls and women fight for their right to play basketball

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Today more girls than ever go to school. However, despite progress, women and girls continue to face multiple barriers based on gender and its intersections with other factors, such as age, ethnicity, poverty, and disability, in the equal enjoyment of the right to quality education. This includes barriers, at all levels, to access quality education and within education systems, institutions, and classrooms, such as, amongst others:

The international community has recognised the equal right to quality education of everyone and committed to achieving gender equality in all fields, including education, through their acceptance of international human rights law. This means that states have legal obligations to remove all discriminatory barriers, whether they exist in law or in everyday life, and to undertake positive measures to bring about equality, including in access of, within, and through education.

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Today more girls than ever go to school. However, despite progress, women and girls continue to face multiple barriers based on gender and its intersections with other factors, such as age, ethnicity, poverty, and disability, in the equal enjoyment of the right to quality education.

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Ensuring that all girls and young women receive a quality education is their human right, a global development priority, and a strategic priority for the World Bank.

Achieving gender equality is central to the World Bank Group twin goals of ending extreme poverty and boosting shared prosperity. As the largest financing development partner in education globally, the World Bank ensures that all of its education projects are gender-sensitive, and works to overcome barriers that are preventing girls and boys from equally benefiting from countries' investments in education.

Girls' education goes beyond getting girls into school. It is also about ensuring that girls learn and feel safe while in school; have the opportunity to complete all levels of education, acquiring the knowledge and skills to compete in the labor market; gain socio-emotional and life skills necessary to navigate and adapt to a changing world; make decisions about their own lives; and contribute to their communities and the world.

Both individuals and countries benefit from girls' education. Better educated women tend to be more informed about nutrition and healthcare, have fewer children, marry at a later age, and their children are usually healthier, should they choose to become mothers. They are more likely to participate in the formal labor market and earn higher incomes. A recent World Bank study estimates that the "limited educational opportunities for girls, and barriers to completing 12 years of education, cost countries between US$15 trillion1 and $30 trillion in lost lifetime productivity and earnings." All these factors combined can help lift households, communities, and countries out of poverty.
The Challenge
According to UNESCO estimates, around the world, 129 million girls are out of school, including 32 million of primary school age, and 97 million of secondary school age.

Globally, primary, and secondary school enrollment rates are getting closer to equal for girls and boys (90% male, 89% female). But while enrollment rates are similar - in fact, two-thirds of all countries have reached gender parity in primary school enrollment - completion rates for girls are lower in low-income countries where 63% of female primary school students complete primary school, compared to 67% of male primary school students. In low-income countries, secondary school completion rates for girls also continue to lag, with only 36% of girls completing lower secondary school compared to 44% of boys. Upper secondary completion rates have similar disparities in lower income countries, the rate is 26% for young men and 21% for young women.

The gaps are starker in countries affected by fragility, conflict, and violence (FCV). In FCV countries, girls are 2.5 times more likely to be out of school than boys, and at the secondary level, are 90% more likely to be out of secondary school than those in non-FCV contexts.

Both girls and boys are facing a learning crisis. Learning Poverty (LP) measures the share of children who are not able to read proficiently at age 10. While girls are on average 4 percentage points less learning-poor than boys, the rates remain very high for both groups. The average of Learning Poverty in in low- and middle- income countries is 55% for females, and 59% for males. The gap is narrower in low-income countries, where Learning Poverty averages about 93% for both boys and girls.

In many countries, enrollment in tertiary education slightly favors young women, however, better learning outcomes are not translating into better work and life outcomes for women. There is a large gender gap in labor force participation rates globally. It is especially stark in regions such as South Asia and the Middle East and North Africa, which have some of the lowest female labor force participation rates at 24% and 20% per region, respectively. These are appallingly low rates, considering what is observed in other regions like Latin America (53%) or East Asia (59%), which are still below rates for men.

Gender bias within schools and classrooms may also reinforce messages that affect girls' ambitions, their own perceptions of their roles in society, and produce labor market engagement disparities and occupational segregation. When gender stereotypes are communicated through the design of school and classroom learning environments or through the behavior of faculty, staff, and peers in a child's school, it goes on to have sustained impact on academic performance and choice of field of study, especially negatively affecting young women pursuing science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines.

Poverty is one of the most important factors for determining whether a girl can access and complete her education. Studies consistently reinforce that girls who face multiple disadvantages - such as low family income, living in remote or underserved locations or who have a disability or belong to a minority ethno-linguistic group - are farthest behind in terms of access to and completion of education.

Violence also prevents girls from accessing and completing education - often girls are forced to walk long distances to school placing them at an increased risk of violence and many experience violence while at school. Most recent data estimates that approximately 60 million girls are sexually assaulted on their way to or at school every year. This often has serious consequences for their mental and physical health and overall well-being while also leading to lower attendance and higher dropout rates. An estimated 246 million children experience violence in and around school every year, ending school-related gender-based violence is critical. Adolescent pregnancies can be a result of sexual violence or sexual exploitation. Girls who become pregnant often face strong stigma, and even discrimination, from their communities. The burden of stigma, compounded by unequal gender norms, can lead girls to drop out of school early and not return.

Child marriage is also a critical challenge. Girls who marry young are much more likely to drop out of school, complete fewer years of education than their peers who marry later. They are also more likely to have children at a young age and are exposed to higher levels of violence perpetrated by their partner. In turn, this affects the education and health of their children, as well as their ability to earn a living. Indeed, girls with secondary schooling are up to six times more likely to marry as those children with little or no education. According to a recent report, more than 41,000 girls under the age of 18 marry every day. Putting an end to this practice would increase women's expected educational attainment, and with it, their potential earnings. According to the report's estimates, ending child marriage could generate more than US$500 billion in benefits annually each year.

COVID-19 is having a negative impact on girls' health and well-being - and many are at risk of not returning to school once they reopen. Available research shows that prevalence of violence against girls and women has increased during the pandemic - jeopardizing their health, safety and overall well-being. As school closures and quarantines were enforced during the 2014‐2016 Ebola outbreak in West Africa, women and girls experienced more sexual violence, coercion and exploitation. School closures during the Ebola outbreak were associated with an increase in teenage pregnancies. Once schools re-opened, many "visibly pregnant girls" were banned from going back to school. With schools closing throughout the developing world, where stigma around teenage pregnancies prevails, we will probably see an increase in drop-out rates as teenage girls become pregnant or married. As girls stay at home because of school closures, their household work burdens might increase, resulting in girls spending more time helping out at home instead of studying. This might encourage parents, particularly those putting a lower value on girls' education, to keep their daughters at home even after schools reopen. Moreover, research shows that girls risk dropping out of school when caregivers are missing from the household because they typically have to (partly) replace the work done by the missing caregiver, who might be away due to COVID-19-related work, illness, or death. Therefore, with the current COVID-19 pandemic, we might see more girls than boys helping at home, lagging behind with studying, and dropping out of school.

Last Updated: Feb 10, 2022

The World Bank is committed to seeing every girl prosper in her life. Our projects support the education of hundreds of millions of girls and young women across the world. Working through interventions in education, health, social protection, water, infrastructure, and other sectors, we are making an even stronger commitment to support countries in ensuring that every girl receives the quality education she deserves.

Our 180 projects are impacting more than 150 million girls and young women worldwide. Hundreds of millions more have been impacted over the past few decades.

We tackle key barriers that girls and young women face when trying to obtain an education. Guided by evidence on what works for girls' education, our projects use multi-pronged approaches across areas including:
1. Removing barriers to schooling

Addressing financial barriers, through scholarships, stipends, grants, conditional cash transfers

Addressing long distances and lack of safety to and from school by building schools, providing transportation methods for girls to get to school

Addressing a lack of information about returns to girls' education but running community awareness campaigns engaging parents, school leaders, and local community leaders

Working with the community to address and inform on social and cultural norms and perceptions that may prevent girls' education

2. Promoting safe and inclusive schools

By constructing and rehabilitating schools to create safe and inclusive learning environments,

Efforts at the community- and school-levels, and programs to engage the school (including teachers, girls, and boys) in reducing gender-based violence (GBV) and ensuring available mechanisms to report GBV

Support for hygiene facilities and menstrual hygiene management for adolescent girls

3. Improving the quality of education

Investing in teacher professional development, eliminating gender biases in curriculum and teaching practices, and focusing on foundational learning

Adapting teaching and learning materials, and books to introduce gender sensitive language, pictorial aspects, and messaging

4. Developing skills and empowering girls for life and labor market success

Promoting girls' empowerment, skills development programs and social programs

Prioritizing and promoting women in STEM subjects and careers in both traditional and non-traditional sectors

Reducing barriers and providing incentives through scholarships for women to enroll in higher education and TVET programs

Support for childcare programs for women and girls to join the labor market

For more information on our girls' education investment and projects, please read Count Me In: The World Bank Education Global Practice: Improving Education Outcomes for Girls and Women, which highlights our decades-long commitment to girls' education, and showcases how Education GP projects are creating opportunities for girls around the world to succeed in their education and beyond.
Last Updated: Oct 26, 2021

The WBG supports girls' education through a variety of interventions. Our focus on girls' education and wellbeing goes beyond school attendance and learning outcomes - we strive to ensure girls have safe, joyful, and inclusive experience with education systems that set them up for success in life and motivate them to become lifelong learners. This approach, reflected in the current Education portfolio impacting at least 150 million girls and young women, prioritizes investments in four key areas listed below.
1. Removing barriers to girls' schooling

Our projects providing stipends to improve primary and secondary school completion for girls and young women in Bangladesh, Pakistan, and the Sahel benefit close to half a million girls.

Our Girls Empowerment and Learning for All Project in Angola will use a variety of financial incentives to attract adolescent girls to schools, including scholarships, and new school spaces for girls.

The AGILE (Adolescent Girls Initiative for Learning and Empowerment) project in Nigeria is providing conditional cash transfers to households for sending girls to school, removing cost barriers to their education.

The MIQRA (Mali Improving Education Quality and Results for All Project) has a school feeding and nutrition program targeted at retention and attendance for girls in schools.

2. Promoting safe and inclusive schools for girls

In Tanzania, the Bank is supporting the training of a counselor in every school who will provide life-skills training in girls' and boys' clubs - which is important because closing gender gaps is not only about interventions for girls but also for boys.

In Nigeria, female counselors will provide life skills training to about 340,000 girls in safe spaces. Several of our other projects also support the construction of separate sanitary toilets for girls, as well as introducing GBV-reducing and reporting mechanisms in school systems.

3. Improving the quality of education for girls (and boys)

In Ghana, the Accountability and Learning Outcomes Project is conducting teacher training for gender-sensitive instruction, and aims to create guides for teachers to support gender sensitivity in classrooms.

In Honduras, the Early Childhood Education Improvement Project, will create a revised preschool curriculum that will include content on gender equity, inclusion, and violence prevention, as well as training for teachers, including training to combat GBV.

The Girls Empowerment and Quality Education for All Project in Sao Tome & Principe is creating girls' clubs after school, where they are also provided with life skills training, and counseling.

4. Developing skills for life and labor market success for young women

The Nurturing Excellence in Higher Education Project in Nepal is focusing on increasing access to tertiary education for young women from low-income groups, and additional providing scholarships for the poorest applications, alongside communication and advocacy campaigns for more female enrollment in STEM subjects.

The ASSET (Accelerating and Strengthening Skills for Economic Transformation) project in Bangladesh is working to increase the participation of women in skills training programs, and conducting awareness and communications campaigns to address dropout.

In Pakistan, the Higher Education Development project seeks to support women enrolled in STEM programs, with an aim to move them from 2-year to more comprehensive 4-year programs.

The Higher Education Project in Moldova and the Higher Education Modernization Project in Belarus will both support and finance activities to increase enrollment of women in STEM fields. The Côte d'Ivoire Higher Education Development Support Project provides scholarships for women in higher education, and extra tutoring support for females pursuing STEM subjects.

Schemes to increase participation of girls in higher education. Through the Africa Centers of Excellence (ACE) project, the Bank has supported increased enrollment of females in masters and PhD programs. The number of female students in ACE centers was 343 in 2014 and is now 3,400 in 2020; a tenfold increase. The Bank is also building the pipeline of female students interested in computer science and engineering programs and retain them.

For more information on our girls' education investment and projects, please read Count Me In: The World Bank Education Global Practice: Improving Education Outcomes for Girls and Women, which highlights our decades-long commitment to girls' education, and showcases how Education GP projects are creating opportunities for girls around the world to succeed in their education and beyond.
Last Updated: Oct 26, 2021

The WBG works closely with governments and other development organizations on girls' education issues to identify and advance interventions that improve girls' education outcomes and provide resources to support countries implementing such initiatives. Partnerships both within and outside of the World Bank are critical to the Education GP's work on girls' education. The Education GP works with other global practices in the Bank to improve girls' education-for example, collaborating with the Water GP for access to sanitation and hygiene in schools, with Social Protection and Jobs GP for challenges related to labor market transition, or Energy GP to improve school safety.

The World Bank collaborates actively with many donors and organizations. As a signatory to the G7 Charlevoix Commitment, the Bank has already committed an estimated $2.5 billion to girls' education in FCV countries as of September 2021-exceeding its pledge of $2.0 billion from 2018 to 2023.

The Education GP:

is collaborating with the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office FCDO (UK) about targets and high-level engagement with G7 donors, to support aid and financial commitment for girls' education;

is a member of the Inter-agency Network for Education in Emergencies (INEE) Girls' EiE Reference Group, which seeks to further research and advocacy for girls' education in emergencies;

a member of the UNESCO Gender Flagship Reference Group and has provided technical contributions to the UNESCO-commissioned study (December 2020-July 2021); and

is working closely with the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) as the implementing agency for 54 percent of the total GPE grants of $3.62 billion, that support girls' education.

is a member of the United Nations Girls' Education Initiative (UNGEI), which comprises over 20 partners representing multilateral, bilateral, civil society, and non-governmental organizations.

collaborated with the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) to produce Economic Impacts of Child Marriage, a recent report detailing the effects of child marriage, which was supported by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Children's Investment Fund Foundation, and GPE.

Last Updated: Oct 26, 2021

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Closing the Gap: Addressing Gender Inequities in Healthcare

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UN Sustainable Development Goal 5: Gender Equality

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UN Sustainable Development Goal 5: Gender Equality

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The Sustainable Development Agenda, adopted by UN Member States in 2015, set a 2030 deadline for the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls. Now, with under 10 years left to meet it, the world is not on track. Amid the intersecting crises of COVID-19, the climate emergency, and rising economic and political insecurity, progress on gender equality has not only failed to move forward but has begun to reverse. Around the world, a growing backlash against women's rights is threatening even well-established freedoms and protections.

Without heightened commitment from the global community, gender equality will remain nothing more than an unrealized goal. The time to act and invest in women and girls is now.

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In focus: Sustainable Development Goal 5 | UN Women - Headquarters

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The Sustainable Development Agenda, adopted by UN Member States in 2015, set a 2030 deadline for the achievement of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls. Now, with under 10 years left to meet it, the world is not on track.

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This page will help you understand the science behind climate change, the impacts of a changing climate, and how you can help slow climate change and prepare for it. We've also created a list of resources and activities for educators and students of all ages.

The Science

Science paints a clear picture: Climate change is happening; it is caused mostly by humans; and it creates many serious and damaging effects. The primary cause of climate change is human activities - like driving cars, creating electricity, and cutting down forests - not natural changes in the climate. These human activities release gases into the atmosphere called greenhouse gases, which slowly warm the planet, creating climate change.

The climate is very complex, and there are still some things we don't know about it. But through centuries of studies and experiments, we've been able to create a strong understanding of how the system works, and how humans are changing it.

The Greenhouse Effect

Imagine a greenhouse made of glass used to grow plants, like flowers and vegetables. The greenhouse keeps the plants inside warm even when it's cold outside because it traps heat from the sun. The earth's atmosphere acts like a greenhouse: When light from the sun passes through the atmosphere, some of it is absorbed by the Earth's surface to heat it, but some heat is also trapped in our atmosphere by certain gases. These heat-trapping gases are called greenhouse gases, and they act like a blanket, keeping the earth warm. This greenhouse effect is a natural process that makes the planet comfortable to live.

But human activities are increasing the amount of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere. One type of greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide, has reached a level in our atmosphere that the Earth hasn't seen for more than 400,000 years! Plants, soils, and the ocean can absorb carbon dioxide, but they can't keep up with all the extra greenhouse gases that we have been releasing. And some greenhouse gases stay in the atmosphere for a long time, from hundreds to even thousands of years. All these gases are making things hotter than natural, so we need to stop producing them to avoid climate change.

Weather vs. Climate

Weather refers to the state of the atmosphere in a short period of time, like minutes or days. It includes lots of things we are familiar with, like temperature, humidity, precipitation, and wind speeds. The weather changes every day, but the climate is much more consistent because it measures the patterns of weather over long periods of time (at least several decades). Let's say you were going to visit Florida for a few days in June. You would expect it to be hot and humid, because that's what the climate of Florida is usually like in June. It might turn out to be hot during your trip, or it could rain or be cloudy. All of those are examples of possible weather during those days.

The Greenhouse Effect Explained

Where do greenhouse gases come from?

Up until about 150 years ago, humans did not produce many greenhouse gases. That changed as the human population grew, we cut down forests to make way for cities and farms, and important inventions and technology, like in-home electricity and cars, transformed the way we live.

These inventions and technologies need energy. Some types of energy called fossil fuels - like coal, oil, and natural gas - have become important sources of that energy. Burning fossil fuels releases carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. We call the release of these gases emissions.

Today in the United States, electricity and transportation (cars, trucks, and planes) are responsible for almost 60 percent of greenhouse gas emissions. The rest comes from agriculture, industry - such as factories that make products we use - and from energy we use in our homes and businesses.
Learn more about U.S. greenhouse gas emissions here.
Greenhouse Gases

The most common types of greenhouse gases are:

Carbon Dioxide (CO ₂): Carbon dioxide is the most common greenhouse gas created by human activities. It makes up 80 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. Most carbon dioxide enters the atmosphere when fossil fuels (oil, natural gas, and coal) are burned for electricity and transportation, and because of other processes like making cement. Carbon dioxide is removed from the atmosphere and stored when it is absorbed by plants, soils, animals, and the ocean as part of the carbon cycle.
Learn more about how energy emissions are controlled in the United States.

Methane (CH ₄): Methane is the next most common greenhouse gas emitted by human activities. It makes up 10 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. Most methane emissions come from raising livestock (like cows), but methane is also released when coal, natural gas, and oil are produced and transported, and when organic waste (like food) decays in landfills. Methane is a stronger gas than carbon dioxide, meaning it creates more warming, but it stays in the atmosphere for a shorter time.
Learn more about how industrial greenhouse gases like methane are controlled in the United States.

Nitrous Oxide (N ₂ O): Most nitrous oxide is emitted by agricultural activities, like applying fertilizer, but it also comes from industrial activities, burning fossil fuels, and other sources. It makes up 6 percent of U.S. greenhouse emissions. Nitrous oxide is even more powerful than methane and carbon dioxide at warming the atmosphere.

Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), Perfluorocarbons (PFCs), and Sulfur Hexafluoride (SF6): Try saying these gases three times fast! They're called "fluorinated gases" for short. These gases combined make up only 3 percent of all U.S. greenhouse gas emissions. That may sound small, but they are very important to solving climate change because they stay in the atmosphere for a very long time (sometimes for thousands of years!) and are much more powerful warmers than all other gases. These gases are made by humans and are used to cool our refrigerators, freezers, buildings and cars.

U.S. Greenhouse Gases by Gas Type and Sector, 2021

Impacts of a Changing Climate

Because of increases in greenhouse gas emissions, global temperatures are rising. Each of the past four decades has been warmer than the previous one. 2016 and 2020 were the warmest years on record, and the six warmest years have all been since 2010.
Learn more about the relationship between extreme weather and climate change.
The following charts show how emissions and temperatures have gone up since 1900, and how they could continue to change in the future. If we continue to emit more and more greenhouse gases, the temperature of the Earth will rise a lot - maybe as much as 5 degrees Celsius (9 degrees Fahrenheit) by 2100. Even if we reduce our emissions right now, the temperature of the Earth will still rise slightly, but we might be able to keep the rise below 2 degrees Celsius (or about 4.8 degrees Fahrenheit). Two degrees might not sound like much, but scientists agree that even that small amount of warming can have large impacts on humans and the environment.

Past and Projected Changes in Carbon Emissions and Temperature

Rising global temperatures affect many things, like extreme weather, human health, food supply, and ecosystems. These impacts are already being felt today, and groups like the poor, elderly, and others are especially vulnerable.
Impacts of climate change include:

Heat waves. Heat waves are long periods of time with temperatures that are hotter than normal. As the Earth warms, more areas will be at risk for hotter and more common extreme heat waves. Learn more about the link between climate change and extreme heat.

Heavy precipitation and storms. Heavy precipitation - like rain or snow - is becoming more common in many locations, which can lead to flooding and other dangerous weather. As seas warm, coastal storms like hurricanes are also becoming more frequent and damaging. Learn more about the link between climate change and heavy precipitation and hurricanes.

Sea level rise. Sea levels have risen about 8 inches since 1880 because glaciers and ice sheets are melting and seas are warming. Scientists predict that, with 1.5 degrees Celsius of warming, sea levels could rise by as much as 1.8 feet this century, which would harm communities living on islands and near coasts. These rises could be even higher if glaciers in Greenland or Antarctica melt very quickly.

Threats to habitats and animals. Warming temperatures, rising seas, melting ice, and other impacts of climate change can threaten the habitat of many plants and animals. Some species are moving to new habitats, but others may struggle to adapt and become endangered or extinct.

Ocean acidification. Extra carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is absorbed by the oceans, making them more acidic. This can make it difficult for corals and organisms that form shells to survive, which can create problems in the food chain for other sea animals.

Wildfires. These are fires that burn large amounts of forests and brush. When they are not controlled, wildfires can destroy homes and be deadly. The number of large wildfires and the length of the season when they're most likely and threatening have been increasing in recent years. Find out how climate change will worsen wildfire conditions.

Drought. A drought is a period with little rain and not enough water. Global warming will increase the risk of drought in some places and make it harder to grow food. Learn about the links between climate change and drought.

How can you help?

Even though climate change sounds scary, we still have time to avoid some of the worst impacts. Everyone can play a part, including government, businesses, and you.

There are two main things we need to do:

The first is to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions responsible for climate change. By choosing cleaner ways to power our homes, offices, and cars, and being more efficient and less wasteful, we can produce fewer greenhouse gas emissions.

There are lot of things you can do to help, like turning off the lights when you leave a room to reduce the electricity you use, walking or biking where you can, or planting trees to absorb carbon dioxide. If you do any of these things, make sure you communicate with other people (like your family, teachers, and friends) about why you're doing them! Communication can inspire more people to change their habits and help save the climate.

Look for more ideas on what we can do together and individually.

The second is to prepare for life in a changing climate. Even if we could stop creating greenhouse gases tomorrow, the climate would still change some because of our past emissions. So we need to make sure our buildings, roads, businesses, and communities are ready for the climate changes that we can't avoid. This includes things like helping cities on the coast prepare for floods, preventing wildfires in our forests, and more.

Learn how communities and companies are preparing.

The power of YOUth

Around the world, young people are learning about climate change and taking action. In fact, young people are some of the most important voices in the climate movement because you can inspire powerful people to create a better future for you.

You don't have to be a rocket scientist or a politician to make a difference in the fight against climate change. Whatever your talents are, there's a role for you to play. Some young people, like Greta Thunberg, Vanessa Nakate, and others, are leading the Fridays for Future movement to tell their governments to create strong policies to fight climate change. Other students are inventing new technologies to cut emissions and reduce waste. And others are using their creativity to bring awareness to climate change by writing music and creating art.

You can also look for ways to get involved in your community - maybe you can help your school set up a composting program to keep food waste out of the landfill. Maybe your synagogue or mosque needs help switching to energy efficient lights. Maybe you can write a letter to your local government to encourage your community to prepare for extreme weather or wildfires. Everyone can do something to fight climate change.

Check out our Educator Resources page for activities you can do to learn more about how climate change works and how you can be a part of the solution.
C2ES thanks the Alcoa Foundation for its support, which allowed us to develop our Climate Classroom content. As a fully independent organization, C2ES is solely responsible for its positions, programs, and publications.

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This page will help you understand the science behind climate change, the impacts of a changing climate, and how you can help slow climate change and prepare for it. We've also created a list of resources and activities for educators and students of all ages.

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Everything you need to know about climate change

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Everything you need to know about climate change

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Everything You Need to Know About Climate Change

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Like what the “greenhouse effect” actually is.

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Climate Science - explained in 10 graphics

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Climate Science - explained in 10 graphics

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Climate Science, Explained in 10 Graphics

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Thousands of people are expected to attend this weekend’s People’s Climate Movement march. It’s a good moment to reflect on the facts—what we know about climate change today, and what impacts we can expect in the future.

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Climate Change explained in 5 minutes (with Al Gore)

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Climate Change explained in 5 minutes (with Al Gore)

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Climate Change Explained In 5 Minutes Featuring Al Gore

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Not all environmentalists eat tofu - the hunters fighting climate change

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Not all environmentalists eat tofu - the hunters fighting climate change

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I first read about Bald Knob, Arkansas, in 2010, after thousands of poisoned blackbirds dropped dead from the sky in nearby Beebe. On first look, Bald Knob has an unsettling aesthetic: a sparsely populated town, a bygone agricultural zone with toppled silos, old trailers, taxidermy businesses, boarded-up shops and a Waffle House. It's a narrative cliche to present a rural place below the Mason-Dixon line this way, yet the scenery fits the bill.

I've lived in places like these, where a casual observer sees a weathered town and locals just see home. I proceed with caution anyway. I'm also unsettled by news reports of armed white nationalists marching at the capitol building in nearby Little Rock. I know this is how a lot of people experience the rural south - sorting through stereotypes and history as they go, wondering how much of the old south is present in the new.

The 12,900-acre Bald Knob Refuge, which sits about 60 miles north-east of Little Rock, is a blend of both the old and new south. It's a former rice farm that has grown rice and soybeans in order to provide much-needed habitat and fuel for migratory waterfowl like pintail ducks and snow geese since 1993.

A half-mile into the refuge, the truck ahead of me spooks an unfathomable cloud of waterfowl. Hundreds of thousandsof ducks rise from the wetlands, calling and circling. It's breathtaking to witness. Later, a huge flock of lesser snow geese passes above me. My heart pounds; it's moving to hear so many wingbeats overhead, to see the formations of a thousand white birds in the blue sky.

Another truck comes by. The man rolls down his truck window and asks, "You OK?"

"Fine," I tell him, climbing down from the roof of my rental car, and showing him my camera. "Watching birds. You?" I ask even though I can see his rifle in the back.

"Out scouting hunting spots," he says, flashing a charming smile. "You can get a better view if you take the road 'round that way." He points me toward a new route, then takes off.

The relationship between hunters and conservation has always surprised me. Yet it's often imperative to the success of major initiatives in the south, thanks to the influence of the not-for-profit organization Ducks Unlimited, which has a worldwide membership of 700,000 and has helped conserve over 13m acres of habitat. There are more than 34 million sportsmen and women in the United States.

Sportsmen and traditional environmentalists aren't always mutually exclusive, or easy co-conspirators. But, there is a critical need for information to flow between those on the ground and those in policy. In order to address the urgent realities of climate change, traditional environmentalists must continue to find ways to communicate and partner with non-traditional audiences: hunters, big agriculture, fishermen, corporations and loggers.

I wanted to talk to people in the south who already work on these frontlines, and are able to build bridges between seemingly disparate audiences.

Charlie Phillips, clammer and entrepreneur, is one of those men who's lived several lives, as a fishmonger, horse trader and shrimper.

"I'm one of those rare Republicans that believe that if you don't take care of your environment, your environment can't take care of you," he says. Phillips, the owner of Sapelo Sea Farms in Georgia, makes his living growing clams, so water quality is crucial to him, which is why he serves on boards and tries to help scientists and fishermen find common ground.

He's frank about climate change and how it's affecting his industry. He talks about the onset of "king tides", and fish stock moving north as waters warm. He was working on the back of a shrimp boat in 1968 when Hurricane Camille hit. "I saw the big ships washed up on shore," he tells me. "I've seen what big hurricanes can do. They're worse now. Things aren't what they used to be."

"Listen," he says. "Fishermen just want to be able to catch what they want to catch and be left alone."

He says working fishermen end up not trusting scientists because the scientific reports don't match up with what they witness firsthand on the water every day. Reports from scientists, he says, "feel three or four years behind what the fishermen see". He thinks it's crucial for fishermen and scientists to interact and learn more from each other. "We've gotten really good at throwing rocks at each other," he tells me. "But we need to give up on throwing rocks. It's not conducive to fixing problems."

Phillips is focused on what he cares most about: water. He's evangelical about it. "It affects everything," he says. "Wildlife, business, eco-tourism." He bought his father's restaurant, the Fish Dock, and uses the menus to educate customers about local water testing results. "I took poetic license," he tells me, laughing. "I don't use the word 'fecal', just 'water quality'."

The following day I talk with Dr Zakiya Leggett, a forester and professor at North Carolina State University whose research focuses on carbon sequestration and soil ecology. She talks about her empathy for freshmen, many of whom tell her at the beginning of her class through a pre-course survey that they don't believe in climate change. They tell her she shouldn't try to change their minds.

"We have to remember," she says, her tone compassionate, "especially if these students are coming fresh from home, that they haven't had time to form their own opinions." She adds, "Maybe I can't impress my 'opinions,' but I will give them the facts, like graphs of temperatures rising."

Leggett estimates that half of her students are coming from a rural environment. Born in Memphis, she recalls the difficult time she had adjusting when she went from the Tuskegee University to Duke University. She remembers struggling with elitism herself.

Now she mentors students through this vulnerable transition, and is able to forge connections with first-generation college students and conservative students, as well as students of color - all groups who might otherwise struggle to join conversations about the scientific realities of climate change.

Dr Todd Merendino, the manager of conservation programs in the Ducks Unlimited Texas field office, negotiates strategic partnerships with wildlife state agencies, agricultural producers, hunters, biologists, private landowners, petrochemical companies and the oil industry. A hunter and fisherman, he has a practical, outcomes-focused approach to his work.

"Our mission is waterfowl and habitats," he says. "I look for symbiotic relationships. Common ground. Common goals."

He speaks with corporations about responsible growth and convinces them that "wetlands and marshes are your insurance policy against flooding". He ticks off the nature of their conversations: flood storage capacity, coastal restoration projects, storm surge abatement, initiatives that keep the marsh healthy.

Ducks Unlimited recently completed a beneficial dredge use project near Port Arthur, Texas, which will move 2m cubic yards of dredge material to restore approximately 1,300 acres of the Salt Bayou Marsh watershed, an important migratory bird flyway recently degraded by hurricane damage. It's generally more expensive to utilize dredge material in this manner, he says, but smarter to move it to a place where it serves a purpose.

Merendino's work has large-scale outcomes, and with that objective in mind he welcomes chances to partner with corporations and big agriculture. "If the rice industry went away," he points out, "the amount of waterfowl habitat loss would be insurmountable, impossible to overcome."

After seeing the beauty and importance of the Bald Knob Refuge, the scale, necessity and complexity of this work impresses me.

It's easy to be an armchair activist in 2019, or make condescending online comments about the state of climate change activism in the south. But it's much more difficult to swim against the ideological current, or to operate between two exasperating worlds in a hands-on way, in search of real impact.

There is certainly more opportunity for cooperation and partnership, and places where more traditional environmentalists like me could find common ground with a hunter in Arkansas or a fisherman in Georgia, so that we could, quite frankly, save what we both love.

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Not all environmentalists eat tofu: the hunters fighting climate change

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Progressives should think twice about who their allies are. Conservatives, especially the hunters among them, can be environmentalists too

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"Chasing Ice" captures largest glacier calving ever filmed

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"Chasing Ice" captures largest glacier calving ever filmed

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"CHASING ICE" captures largest glacier calving ever filmed - OFFICIAL VIDEO

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Mapping the climate impact of electricity

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Mapping the climate impact of electricity

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Live 24/7 CO₂ emissions of electricity consumption

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Electricity Maps is a live 24/7 visualization of where your electricity comes from and how much CO2 was emitted to produce it.

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Podcast episode: "If you won't, we will: Youth action on climate change"

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Podcast episode: "If you won't, we will: Youth action on climate change"

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Music and Podcasts, Free and On-Demand | Pandora

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Play the songs, albums, playlists and podcasts you love on the all-new Pandora. Sign up for a subscription plan to stream ad-free and on-demand. Listen on your mobile phone, desktop, TV, smart speakers or in the car.

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District rethinks decision about posting of school newspaper article

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District rethinks decision about posting of school newspaper article

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Police officer can't throw his weight around against 12-year old reporter

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Police officer can't throw his weight around against 12-year old reporter

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Freedom of the press is a promise by a government not to punish journalists (and other people who report the news) for doing their job. It is an idea like freedom of speech: it lets people express their opinions or beliefs. Many countries have laws or constitutional amendments protecting freedom of the press. The word "press" in the phrase comes from the printing press.

Restrictions

Like with freedom of speech, freedom of the press does not protect everything that a journalist writes. A journalist can be sued for libel, which is publishing false and damaging claims about a person. Publishing copyrighted material is not legal in many countries. Writing about state secrets, like military plans, weapon designs, or other classified information is almost always illegal.

Images for kids

In Spanish: Libertad de prensa para niños

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Learn Freedom of the press facts for kids

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Freedom of the press - lesson from Khan Academy

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Freedom of the press - lesson from Khan Academy

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Freedom of the press: lesson overview (article) | Khan Academy

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A high-level overview of the First Amendment protections for the press.

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World Press Freedom Day is observed every year on 3rd of May around the world. The United Nations General Assembly announced May 3 as the World Press Day or World Press Freedom Day in order to spread awareness on the significance of press freedom and to remind the government of its duty to uphold and respect the right to freedom of expression.

Media plays a vital role in reasserting the values on which the democracy of respecting rights has been built. Therefore, our government must help in keeping the journalists safe.

World Press Freedom Day 2022

World Press Freedom Day, 2022 was celebrated worldwide on 3rd of May, Tuesday.

The World Press Freedom Day 2022 theme was " Journalism under digital siege ".

The main event of the 26th World Press Freedom Day was celebrated at Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. The event was supported by UNESCO and the Government of Ethiopia and it mainly focused on the challenges faced by the media during the elections and the role of media in supporting peace and prosperity.

In India, the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication of Bhawanipur Education Society, Kolkata organised debates, essay writing competition, quizzes and many more events on the occasion. The event also held seminars and talks on the importance of free and fair media in a democratic country.

In Nepal, a rally was organised ahead of World Press Freedom Day which highlighted the importance of press freedom and right of expression. Journalists across the nation along with the members of the civil society took part in the rally and discussed on the issue of press freedom and condemned the misuse of the various media platforms for personal gains.

World Press Freedom Committee

World Press Freedom Committee was established in 1976 by a batch of independent journalists to promote and defend press freedom and cover 44 media organizations from around the world. The organization is a member of the International Freedom of Expression Exchange which functions in cooperation with several other organizations for press freedom, human rights experts, global advisers and journalists. The organization is located in Argentina.

History:

World Press Freedom Day serves as a reminder of the significance of free press in a safe and functioning society and acts to honor the journalists who have lost their lives while supporting free press. Freedom of expression is a basic human right as listed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 19.

World Press Freedom Day was initially arranged in 1993 by the United Nation General Assembly as an initiative to reflect upon the freedom of press internationally. The day was marked on the jubilee of the Declaration of Windhoek, which is a statement of fundamentals of press freedom assembled in 1991 by the African Journalists to encourage a pluralistic and independent African press.

Why World Press Freedom Day Is Celebrated

World Press Freedom Day celebrates the elementary principles of freedom of the press to assess the worth of press freedom worldwide and to protect media from attacks that are put on their independence. The day is also observed to salute those journalists who have lost their lives in line of duty.

It serves as an event to inform the citizens about the violations of freedom of the press- a reminder that in several countries across the world, publications are fined, suspended, censored and shut down, while editors, publishers and journalists are attacked, detained, harassed and even murdered. It stands as a date to develop and encourage initiatives in approval of press freedom and also to appraise the state of freedom of the press worldwide.

How World Press Freedom Day Is Celebrated

World Press Freedom Day is observed in more than 100 nations worldwide. The event ranges from cultural performances and demonstrations to round tables to determine the significance of press freedom. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) coordinates the initiatives of several nations and most of the times serves as an organizing partner to foster the freedom of expression.

UNESCO also marks the day by conferring awards on deserving organizations, individuals or institutions that have made commendable contributions in the promotion and defense of press freedom in any part of the world, specifically when the achievement is made in the face of danger. Some of the examples of events held in recent year across the world are as follows:

While the number of journalists being attacked on duty has been reduced, it still goes on at an alarming rate. Investigate reporting has become extremely dreadful in India where 54 journalists were attacked and 7 lost their lives in the year of 2016-17. India is ranked as 136th in the world to be the worst country for journalism.

Therefore, Press Freedom Day is extremely vital in India to raise awareness about the essence of press freedom among its citizens. In fact, this year on World Press Freedom Day Media Institutions Act and both houses of the Parliament have passed a law for the protection of journalists while they are on their duties.

In India, Press Freedom Day is usually celebrated to salute the media professionals who risked their lives or sometimes even lost their life in the line of duty. Many government officers, civil servants and ministers take part in the day through various events like art exhibitions, award nights to honor those who risked their lives to bring news to the world, etc.

South Africa

World Press Freedom Day is celebrated in South Africa with great enthusiasm. The day is a celebration of the commitment and hard work by the journalists in presenting life-changing information that allows people to understand their societies better. Each year, the Media Institute of South Africa (MISA) pays tribute to all those journalists who were murdered for their utmost commitment in South Africa and other parts of the world.

Commemorative celebrations are held in nine countries of South Africa. Usually, Press Freedom Day commences with a breakfast for editors, journalists, representatives of the diplomatic community, government officials and representatives of the civil society. MISA also releases its annual publication of media freedom.

Costa Rica

Costa Rica has achieved the highest rank for press freedom in America. It is also ranked as 6th internationally in the recent press freedom index. The country is dedicatedly committed to press freedom and freedom of expression. As Costa Rica is relatively safe for the journalists and media professionals, the day is celebrated in the country to mark its success in the industry and to make people aware about the freedom of press. Various conferences, panel discussions and media events are organized to discuss on the issue of press freedom with media experts.

Argentina

The Ministry of Internal Affairs, Argentina celebrates World Press Freedom Day by holding international seminars in accordance with the themes prescribed by UNESCO. It provides a space for exchange of dialogues between international experts and local officials including access to information and transparency. The event is generally open for journalists, civil society organizations representatives as well as the common public.

Apart from this, a special programme of news is broadcasted on TV channels of Argentina to mark the World Press Freedom Day in which special anchors interview the representatives and experts of the media industry. Other events like workshops, conferences and seminars are also organized for the day.

Cambodia

World Press Freedom Day is a crucial occasion to acknowledge the basic fundamentals of freedom of press, to protect media from attacks on independence and to salute the ones who have lost their lives in practicing journalism. In Cambodia, various conferences and events are organized to discuss on how the problems of media freedom can be prevented.

Large media campaigns are organized to spread awareness on the right to information wherein directors of civil society, government representatives and ministers of women affairs take part. Panel discussions are also organized to address on the challenges faced by the journalists and media.

Suggestions For Celebrating Press Freedom Day In India In Better Way

India has been ranked very poorly on the list of the Press Freedom Index 2013, as released by the RWB-Reporters without Borders. It comes on 136th position out of the 179 listed countries in freedom of the press. While the ranking has been continuously reduced since the period of 2002, it still needs to do a lot in this direction.

Though our Indian constitution does not mention the word 'press' anywhere in the rights, it offers the right to freedom of speech and expression. Yet, this right is subject to certain restrictions for reasons of protecting the security, integrity and sovereignty of India. Laws like Prevention of Terrorists Act and Officials Secrets Act have been utilized in order to limit the press freedom.

Press Freedom Day offers a very good platform to raise awareness about the issue of press freedom in India. Here are some suggestions to celebrate the day in the country.

People must gather their friends and family members and organize events on spreading awareness about the freedom of press. People can also use #WorldPressFreedomDay on various social media platforms to raise awareness for the press freedom.

Government of India must collaborate with UNESCO and organize major events, conferences and seminars on the problems of press freedom in India along with its solutions. General public and journalists must be invited to attend those events.

A national action plan must be created for the protection of journalists. Aggression and murders towards the journalists must be treated as a cognizable offence.

Schools and colleges of the country must also initiate towards the celebration of the day by conducting small functions on press freedom, so that students gain knowledge about the day.

World Press Freedom Day Greeting Cards:

Themes:

Since 1998, World Press Freedom Day started adopting different celebration themes every year by bringing together media professionals, press freedom organizations and UN agencies to access the state of press freedom worldwide and discuss solutions for addressing challenges. Each conference is based on a theme linked with press freedom, terrorism media coverage, impunity, good governance and media's role in post-conflict countries.

Previous Years Themes are:

2022: Journalism under digital siege

2021: Information as a Public Good

2020: Journalism without Fear or Favour

2019: Media for Democracy: Journalism and Elections in Times of Disinformation

2018: Keeping Power in Check: Media, Justice and the Rule of Law

2017: Critical Minds for Critical Times: Media's role in advancing peaceful, just and inclusive societies

2016: Access to Information and Fundamental Freedoms - This Is Your Right!

2015: Let Journalism Thrive! Towards Better Reporting, Gender Equality, and Safety in the Digital Age

2014: Media Freedom for a Better Future: Shaping the post - 2015 Development Agenda

2013: Safe to Speak: Securing Freedom of Expression in All Media

2012: New voices: media freedom helping to transform societies

2011: 21st Century Media: New Frontiers, New Barriers

2010: Freedom of information: the right to know

2009: Dialogue, mutual understanding and reconciliation

2008: Celebrating the fundamental principles of press freedom

2007: The United Nations and the freedom of press

2006: The media as drivers of change

2005: Media and Good Governance

2004: Who decides how much information?

2003: The Media and Armed Conflict

2002: Covering the War on Global Terrorism

2001: Combating racism and promoting diversity: the role of free press

2000: Reporting the News in a Dangerous World: The Role of the Media in conflict settlement, Reconciliation and peace-building

1999: Turbulent Eras: Generational Perspectives on Freedom of the Press

1998: Press Freedom is a Cornerstone of Human Rights

World Press Freedom Day Facebook Covers:

End Notes:

Media plays a very crucial role in the development of any country. Common people are educated about what is going on in the society and about the issues and events which affect their lives. Thus, journalists and media experts must be given utmost safety while they are delivering their duties and also complete freedom of speech. Press freedom is a very serious issue and must be given due importance.

World Press Freedom Day serves as a platform to remind us the essence of preserving strong journalists at the time when they are facing increasing challenges. It also serves as an opportunity to call upon each and every pluralistic and independent media for global access to information and reserving freedom of the press in every aspect.

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World Press Freedom Day Information For Students - Kids Portal For Parents

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World Press Freedom Day is observed every year on 3rd of May around the world. The United Nations General Assembly announced May 3 as the World Press Day or World Press Freedom Day in order to spread awareness on the significance of press freedom and to remind the government of its duty to uphold and respect the right to freedom of expression.

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In brief

The Freedom of Information Act 2000 provides public access to information held by public authorities.

It does this in two ways:

public authorities are obliged to publish certain information about their activities; and

members of the public are entitled to request information from public authorities.

The Act covers any recorded information that is held by a public authority in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, and by UK-wide public authorities based in Scotland. Information held by Scottish public authorities is covered by Scotland's own Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002.

Public authorities include government departments, local authorities, the NHS, state schools and police forces. However, the Act does not necessarily cover every organisation that receives public money. For example, it does not cover some charities that receive grants and certain private sector organisations that perform public functions.

Recorded information includes printed documents, computer files, letters, emails, photographs, and sound or video recordings.

The Act does not give people access to their own personal data (information about themselves) such as their health records or credit reference file. If a member of the public wants to see information that a public authority holds about them, they should make a data protection subject access request.

In more detail

What is the Freedom of Information Act for?

The government first published proposals for freedom of information in 1997. In the white paper Your Right to Know, the government explained that the aim was a more open government based on mutual trust.

"Openness is fundamental to the political health of a modern state. This White Paper marks a watershed in the relationship between the government and people of the United Kingdom. At last there is a government ready to trust the people with a legal right to information."

Public authorities spend money collected from taxpayers, and make decisions that can significantly affect many people's lives. Access to information helps the public make public authorities accountable for their actions and allows public debate to be better informed and more productive.

"Unnecessary secrecy in government leads to arrogance in governance and defective decision-making." - Your Right to Know

Access to official information can also improve public confidence and trust if government and public sector bodies are seen as being open. In a 2011 survey carried out on behalf of the Information Commissioner's Office, 81% of public bodies questioned agreed that the Act had increased the public's trust in their organisation.

The main principle behind freedom of information legislation is that people have a right to know about the activities of public authorities, unless there is a good reason for them not to. This is sometimes described as a presumption or assumption in favour of disclosure. The Act is also sometimes described as purpose and applicant blind.

This means that:

everybody has a right to access official information. Disclosure of information should be the default - in other words, information should be kept private only when there is a good reason and it is permitted by the Act;

an applicant (requester) does not need to give you a reason for wanting the information. On the contrary, you must justify refusing them information;

you must treat all requests for information equally, except under some circumstances relating to vexatious requests and personal data (see When can we refuse a request? for details on these). The information someone can get under the Act should not be affected by who they are. You should treat all requesters equally, whether they are journalists, local residents, public authority employees, or foreign researchers; and

because you should treat all requesters equally, you should only disclose information under the Act if you would disclose it to anyone else who asked. In other words, you should consider any information you release under the Act as if it were being released to the world at large.

This does not prevent you voluntarily giving information to certain people outside the provisions of the Act.

The Act only covers public authorities. Schedule 1 of the Act contains a list of the bodies that are classed as public authorities in this context. Some of these bodies are listed by name, such as the Health and Safety Executive or the National Gallery. Others are listed by type, for example government departments, parish councils, or maintained schools. Executive agencies are classed as part of their parent government department; for example, the DVLA is covered by the Act because it is part of the Department for Transport. However, arm's-length bodies are not considered part of the department sponsoring them, and they are listed individually in Part VI of Schedule 1.

Section 5 of the Act gives the Secretary of State the power to designate further bodies as public authorities. If in doubt, you can check the latest position at www.legislation.gov.uk.

Certain bodies are only covered for some of the information they hold, for example:

GPs, dentists and other health practitioners only have to provide information about their NHS work;

the BBC, Channel 4 and the Welsh channel S4C (the public service broadcasters) do not have to provide information about journalistic, literary or artistic activities; and

some bodies that have judicial functions do not have to provide information about these functions.

In addition to the bodies listed in the Act, with effect from 1 September 2013 the definition of a public authority now also covers companies which are wholly owned:

by the Crown;

by the wider public sector; or

by both the Crown and the wider public sector.

These terms are defined in more detail in the amended section 6 of FOIA.

For example, some local authorities have transferred responsibility for services (eg social housing) to a private company (sometimes known as an arm's-length management organisation or ALMO), which is wholly owned by the local authority. This type of company counts as a public authority in its own right and needs to respond to requests for information. Where a company is wholly owned by a number of local authorities it is also now a public authority for the purposes of FOIA.

Individual MPs, assembly members or councillors are not covered by the Act.

For further information, read our more detailed guidance:

The Act covers all recorded information held by a public authority. It is not limited to official documents and it covers, for example, drafts, emails, notes, recordings of telephone conversations and CCTV recordings. Nor is it limited to information you create, so it also covers, for example, letters you receive from members of the public, although there may be a good reason not to release them.

The Act includes some specific requirements to do with datasets. For these purposes, a dataset is collection of factual, raw data that you gather as part of providing services and delivering your functions as a public authority, and that you hold in electronic form. Your duties in relation to datasets are explained elsewhere in this Guide, where they are relevant.

Requests are sometimes made for less obvious sources of recorded information, such as the author and date of drafting, found in the properties of a document (sometimes called meta-data). This information is recorded so is covered by the Act and you must consider it for release in the normal way.

Similarly, you should treat requests for recorded information about the handling of previous freedom of information requests (meta-requests) no differently from any other request for recorded information.

The Act does not cover information that is in someone's head. If a member of the public asks for information, you only have to provide information you already have in recorded form. You do not have to create new information or find the answer to a question from staff who may happen to know it.

The Act covers information that is held on behalf of a public authority even if it is not held on the authority's premises. For example, you may keep certain records in off-site storage, or you may send out certain types of work to be processed by a contractor. Similarly, although individual councillors are not public authorities in their own right, they do sometimes hold information about council business on behalf of their council.

Where you subcontract public services to an external company, that company may then hold information on your behalf, depending on the type of information and your contract with them. Some of the information held by the external company may be covered by the Act if you receive a freedom of information request. The company does not have to answer any requests for information it receives, but it would be good practice for them to forward the requests to you. The same applies where you receive services under a contract, for example, if you consult external solicitors.

The Act does not cover information you hold solely on behalf of another person, body or organisation. This means employees' purely private information is not covered, even if it is on a work computer or email account; nor is information you store solely on behalf of a trade union, or an individual MP or councillor.

For further information, read our more detailed guidance:

Anyone can make a freedom of information request - they do not have to be UK citizens, or resident in the UK. Freedom of information requests can also be made by organisations, for example a newspaper, a campaign group, or a company. Employees of a public authority can make requests to their own employer, although good internal communications and staff relations will normally avoid the need for this.

Requesters should direct their requests for information to the public authority they think will hold the information. The public authority that receives the request is responsible for responding. Requests should not be sent to the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), except where the requester wants information the ICO holds.

For further information, read our more detailed guidance:

You have two main obligations under the Act. You must:

In addition, three codes of practice contain recommended good practice when applying the Act.

The section 45 code of practice gives recommendations for public authorities about their handling of requests. It covers the situations in which you should give advice and assistance to those making requests; the complaints procedures you should put in place; and various considerations that may affect your relationships with other public bodies or third parties.

There is an additional section 45 code of practice on datasets. This provides guidance to public authorities on how to meet their obligations in relation to the dataset provisions in sections 11, 11A, 11B and 19 of the Act.

The section 46 code of practice covers good records management practice and the obligations of public authorities under the Public Records Acts to maintain their records in an ordered and managed way, so that they can readily retrieve information when it is needed.

These codes of practice are not directly legally binding but failure to follow them is likely to lead to breaches of the Act. In particular there is a link between following part II of the section 45 code of practice and complying with section 16 of the Act. Section 16 requires you to provide applicants with reasonable advice and assistance. This includes advice and assistance to members of the public before they have made their request.

For further information, read our more detailed guidance:

Making information available is only valuable to the public if they know they can access it, and what is available. You should:

publicise your commitment to proactive publication and the details of what is available. See What information do we need to publish?;

publicise the fact that people can make freedom of information requests to you;

provide contact details for making a request, including a named contact and phone number for any enquiries about the Act; and

tell people who you think may want information that they can make a request, and tell them how to do this.

You should communicate with the public in a range of ways. This is likely to include websites, noticeboards, leaflets, or posters in places where people access your services.

You must also make your staff, contractors, customers or others you have contact with aware of how the Act may affect them. You should make it clear that you cannot guarantee complete confidentiality of information and that as a public body you must consider for release any information you hold if it is requested. You will need to consider each request individually, but it is worthwhile having policies or guidelines for certain types of information, such as information about staff.

The UK General Data Protection Regulation (the UK GDPR) and the Data Protection Act 2018 (the DPA 2018) give rules for handling information about people. They include the right for people to access their personal data. The Freedom of Information Act and the DPA 2018 come under the heading of information rights and are regulated by the ICO.

When a person makes a request for their own information, this is a data protection subject access request. However, members of the public often wrongly think it is the Freedom of Information Act that gives them the right to their personal information, so you may need to clarify things when responding to such a request.

The UK GDPR and the DPA 2018 exist to protect people's right to privacy, whereas the Freedom of Information Act is about getting rid of unnecessary secrecy. These two aims are not necessarily incompatible but there can be a tension between them, and applying them sometimes requires careful judgement.

When someone makes a request for information that includes someone else's personal data, you will need to carefully balance the case for transparency and openness under the Freedom of Information Act against the data subject's right to privacy under the data protection legislation. You will need to decide whether you can release the information without infringing the UK GDPR data protection principles.

See When can we refuse a request? for more information on the exemptions for personal data.

The Act does not affect copyright and intellectual property rights that give owners the right to protect their original work against commercial exploitation by others. If someone wishes to re-use public sector information for commercial purposes, they should make an application under the Re-use of Public Sector Information Regulations. See the What is PSI? section of the National Archives website for more information on this. The ICO does not have any powers to regulate copyright or the re-use of information.

When giving access to information under the Act, you cannot place any conditions or restrictions on that access. For example, you cannot require the requester to sign any agreement before they are given access to the information. However, you can include a copyright notice with the information you disclose. You can also make a claim in the courts if the requester or someone else uses the information in breach of copyright. The ICO encourages public authorities to use the Open Government Licence provided by the National Archives.

In most cases re-use of information released under the Act is dealt with under RPSI. RPSI applies to most but not all public authorities; for example, universities in general are not covered by RPSI although their libraries are. For public authorities that are not subject to RPSI, there are some re-use provisions in the Act but they only apply to one type of information, namely datasets. Under these provisions, if you are releasing a dataset that is a 'relevant copyright work' and you are the only owner of the copyright or database rights, then you must release it under a licence that permits re-use. The licences to use for this are specified in the section 45 code of practice on datasets. If the dataset can be re-used without charge, then the appropriate licence will usually be the Open Government Licence.

For further information, read our more detailed guidance:

The Freedom of Information Act may work alongside other laws.

Some of the exemptions in the Act that allow public authorities to withhold information use principles from common law, for example the section 41 exemption refers to the law of confidence.

Also, section 44 of the Act allows information to be withheld when its disclosure is prohibited under other legislation, and section 21 can exempt information that is accessible to an applicant using procedures in other legislation. See When can we refuse a request? for more information on the exemptions.

When dealing with requests for information, you should continue to be aware of your obligations under the Equality Act 2010 (or Disability Discrimination Act 1995 in Northern Ireland). These Acts are not regulated by the ICO so they are not covered in this guidance.

You should handle requests for environmental information under the Environmental Information Regulations 2004. The Regulations also require you to make environmental information available proactively by readily accessible electronic means. If you are likely to be handling requests for information, you will need to familiarise yourself with the basics of the Regulations, especially the definition of 'environmental information', found in regulation 2(1).

If you are a public sector body as defined by RPSI then most of the information you hold as part of your public task must be made available for re-use on request. Most, but not all public authorities are public sector bodies under RPSI. Libraries, museums and archives are covered but they have discretion as to whether to permit re-use. RPSI applies to information in which you, as the public sector body, hold the intellectual property rights but does not generally apply to information that is exempt from disclosure under the Act or under the Environmental Information Regulations.

The Infrastructure for Spatial Information in the European Community Regulations 2009 came into force on 31 December 2009. You will need to take these into account when considering your duty under the Freedom of Information Act to proactively publish information, as they require public authorities to make 'spatial data sets' (sets of data linked to geographical locations) publicly available in a consistent and usable electronic format.

For further information, read our more detailed guidance:

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The Freedom of Information Act 2000 provides public access to information held by public authorities. It does this in two ways: public authorities are obliged to publish certain information about their activities; and members of the public are entitled to request information from public authorities.

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As unrest grows, Iran restricts access to Instagram, WhatsApp

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As unrest grows, Iran restricts access to Instagram, WhatsApp

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Sept 21 (Reuters) - Iran curbed access on Wednesday to Meta Platforms' (META.O) Instagram and WhatsApp, two of the last remaining social networks in the country, amid protests over the death of a woman in police custody, residents and internet watchdog NetBlocks said.

Last week's death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was arrested by morality police in Tehran for "unsuitable attire", has unleashed anger over issues including freedom in the Islamic Republic and an economy reeling from sanctions. read more

NetBlocks also reported a "nation-scale loss of connectivity" on Iran's mail mobile telephone provider and another company's network.

WhatsApp's servers have been disrupted on multiple internet providers, hours after Instagram's services were blocked, London-based NetBlocks said.

The group's data shows a near-total disruption to internet service in parts of Kurdistan province in west Iran since Monday, while the capital city of Tehran and other parts of the country have also faced disruptions since Friday when protests first broke out.

Two residents in Tehran and southern Iran said they could only send text and not pictures on WhatsApp and that Instagram appeared to be completely blocked.

Iran has often curbed internet access to make it difficult for protesters to post videos on social media to generate support and also to obtain reliable reports on the extent of the unrest.

In 2019, the government shut down the internet for about a week to help stifle fuel protests which turned political, sparking the bloodiest crackdown in the 40-year history of the Islamic Republic.

Protests have been particularly intense in Kurdistan where Iran's Revolutionary Guards has a history of suppressing unrest. read more

Iran's minister of communications said earlier on Wednesday he had been misquoted after news outlets cited him as saying the authorities might disrupt internet services for security reasons. read more

Social media websites such as TikTok, YouTube, Twitter and Facebook are routinely blocked in parts of the Islamic Republic, which has some of the strictest internet controls in the world. But tech-savvy residents bypass curbs using virtual private networks (VPNs).

Meta and Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Reporting by Akash Sriram in Bengaluru, additional reporting by Dubai newsroom; Editing by Shounak Dasgupta, Shinjini Ganguli, Anil D'Silva and Jonathan Oatis

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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As unrest grows, Iran restricts access to Instagram, WhatsApp

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Sept 21 (Reuters) - Iran curbed access on Wednesday to Meta Platforms' (META.O) Instagram and WhatsApp, two of the last remaining social networks in the country, amid protests over the death of a woman in police custody, residents and internet watchdog NetBlocks said.

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Press Freedom increasingly under threat in Cambodia

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Press Freedom increasingly under threat in Cambodia

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In this week's podcast, aboriginal art custodians from the Burrup Peninsula in Western Australia come all the way to Geneva to tell us they're facing cultural genocide, while in Haiti, gang violence is creating a serious problem for UN relief teams. Across Africa, we find out why there's serious concern about the spread of animal-to-human disease, and in the Philippines, a court ruling on Press freedom hero and Nobel winner, Maria Ressa, has sparked alarm from one leading human rights expert.

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Hunger gets worse in Venezuela; people in cities try to grow food

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Hunger gets worse in Venezuela; people in cities try to grow food

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Kansas City has many hungry children, and police are helping to feed them

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Kansas City has many hungry children, and police are helping to feed them

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Around the world, up to 811 million people regularly go to bed hungry. Here are 10 facts you should know about global hunger.

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Rome/New York - The number of people affected by hunger globally rose to as many as 828 million in 2021, an increase of about 46 million since 2020 and 1 50 million since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic , according to a United Nations report that provides fresh evidence that the world is moving further away from its goal of ending hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition in all its forms by 2030.

The 2022 edition of The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) report presents updates on the food security and nutrition situation around the world, including the latest estimates of the cost and affordability of a healthy diet. The report also looks at ways in which governments can repurpose their current support to agriculture to reduce the cost of healthy diets, mindful of the limited public resources available in many parts of the world.

The report was jointly published today by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the UN World Food Programme (WFP) and the World Health Organization (WHO).

The numbers paint a grim picture:

As many as 828 million people were affected by hunger in 2021 - 46 million people more from a year earlier and 150 million more from 2019.

After remaining relatively unchanged since 2015, the proportion of people affected by hunger jumped in 2020 and continued to rise in 2021, to 9.8 percent of the world population. This compares with 8 percent in 2019 and 9.3 percent in 2020.

Around 2.3 billion people in the world (29.3 percent) were moderately or severely food insecure in 2021 - 350 million more compared to before the outbreak of the COVID‑19 pandemic. Nearly 924 million people (11.7 percent of the global population) faced food insecurity at severe levels, an increase of 207 million in two years.

The gender gap in food insecurity continued to rise in 2021 - 31.9 percent of women in the world were moderately or severely food insecure, compared to 27.6 percent of men - a gap of more than 4 percentage points, compared with 3 percentage points in 2020.

Almost 3.1 billion people could not afford a healthy diet in 2020, up 112 million from 2019, reflecting the effects of inflation in consumer food prices stemming from the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the measures put in place to contain it.

An estimated 45 million children under the age of five were suffering from wasting, the deadliest form of malnutrition, which increases children's risk of death by up to 12 times. Furthermore, 149 million children under the age of five had stunted growth and development due to a chronic lack of essential nutrients in their diets, while 39 million were overweight.

Progress is being made on exclusive breastfeeding, with nearly 44 percen t of infants under six months of age being exclusively breastfed worldwide in 2020. This is still short of the 50 percent target by 2030. Of great concern, two in three children are not fed the minimum diverse diet they need to grow and develop to their full potential.

Looking forward, projections are that nearly 670 million people (8 percent of the world population) will still be facing hunger in 2030 - even if a global economic recovery is taken into consideration. This is a similar number to 2015, when the goal of ending hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition by the end of this decade was launched under the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

As this report is being published, the ongoing war in Ukraine, involving two of the biggest global producers of staple cereals, oilseeds and fertilizer, is disrupting international supply chains and pushing up the prices of grain, fertilizer, energy, as well as ready-to-use therapeutic food for children with severe malnutrition. This comes as supply chains are already being adversely affected by increasingly frequent extreme climate events, especially in low-income countries, and has potentially sobering implications for global food security and nutrition.

"This report repeatedly highlights the intensification of these major drivers of food insecurity and malnutrition: conflict, climate extremes and economic shocks, combined with growing inequalities," the heads of the five UN agencies wrote in this year's Foreword. "The issue at stake is not whether adversities will continue to occur or not, but how we must take bolder action to build resilience against future shocks."
Repurposing agricultural policies
The report notes as striking that worldwide support for the food and agricultural sector averaged almost USD 630 billion a year between 2013 and 2018. The lion share of it goes to individual farmers, through trade and market policies and fiscal subsidies. However, not only is much of this support market-distorting, but it is not reaching many farmers, hurts the environment and does not promote the production of nutritious foods that make up a healthy diet. That's in part because subsidies often target the production of staple foods, dairy and other animal source foods, especially in high- and upper-middle-income countries. Rice, sugar and meats of various types are the most incentivized food items worldwide, while fruits and vegetables are relatively less supported, particularly in some low-income countries.

With the threats of a global recession looming, and the implications this has on public revenues and expenditures, a way to support economic recovery involves the repurposing of food and agricultural support to target nutritious foods where per capita consumption does not yet match the recommended levels for healthy diets.

The evidence suggests that if governments repurpose the resources they are using to incentivize the production, supply and consumption of nutritious foods, they will contribute to making healthy diets less costly, more affordable and equitably for all.

Finally, the report also points out that governments could do more to reduce trade barriers for nutritious foods, such as fruits, vegetables and pulses.
⁽¹⁾ It is estimated that between 702 and 828 million people were affected by hunger in 2021. The estimate is presented as a range to reflect the added uncertainty in data collection due to the COVID-19 pandemic and related restrictions. The increases are measured with reference to the middle of the projected range (768 million). ⁽²⁾ For FAO - QU Dongyu, Director-General; for IFAD - Gilbert F. Houngbo, President; for UNICEF - Catherine Russell, Executive Director; for WFP - David Beasley, Executive Director; for WHO - Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General. What they said
FAO Director-General QU Dongyu: "Low-income countries, where agriculture is key to the economy, jobs and rural livelihoods, have little public resources to repurpose. FAO is committed to continue working together with these countries to explore opportunities for increasing the provision of public services for all actors across agrifood systems."

IFAD President Gilbert F. Houngbo: "These are depressing figures for humanity. We continue to move away from our goal of ending hunger by 2030. The ripple effects of the global food crisis will most likely worsen the outcome again next year. We need a more intense approach to end hunger and IFAD stands ready to do its part by scaling up its operations and impact. We look forward to having everyone's support."

UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell: "The unprecedented scale of the malnutrition crisis demands an unprecedented response. We must double our efforts to ensure that the most vulnerable children have access to nutritious, safe, and affordable diets -- and services for the early prevention, detection and treatment of malnutrition. With so many children's lives and futures at stake, this is the time to step up our ambition for child nutrition - and we have no time to waste."

WFP Executive Director David Beasley: "There is a real danger these numbers will climb even higher in the months ahead. The global price spikes in food, fuel and fertilizers that we are seeing as a result of the crisis in Ukraine threaten to push countries around the world into famine. The result will be global destabilization, starvation, and mass migration on an unprecedented scale. We have to act today to avert this looming catastrophe."

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus: "Every year, 11 million people die due to unhealthy diets. Rising food prices mean this will only get worse. WHO supports countries' efforts to improve food systems through taxing unhealthy foods and subsidising healthy options, protecting children from harmful marketing, and ensuring clear nutrition labels. We must work together to achieve the 2030 global nutrition targets, to fight hunger and malnutrition, and to ensure that food is a source of health for all."
Acute food insecurity: food insecurity found in a specified area at a specific point in time and of a severity that threatens lives or livelihoods, or both, regardless of the causes, context or duration. Has relevance in providing strategic guidance to actions that focus on short-term objectives to prevent, mitigate or decrease severe food insecurity. Hunger: an uncomfortable or painful sensation caused by insufficient energy from diet. In this report, the term hunger is synonymous with chronic undernourishment and is measured by the prevalence of undernourishment (PoU). Malnutrition: an abnormal physiological condition caused by inadequate, unbalanced or excessive intake of macronutrients and/or micronutrients. Malnutrition includes undernutrition (child stunting and wasting, and vitamin and mineral deficiencies) as well as overweight and obesity. Moderate food insecurity: a level of severity of food insecurity at which people face uncertainties about their ability to obtain food and have been forced to reduce, at times during the year, the quality and/or quantity of food they consume due to lack of money or other resources. It refers to a lack of consistent access to food, which diminishes dietary quality and disrupts normal eating patterns. Measured based on the Food Insecurity Experience Scale. Severe food insecurity: a level of severity of food insecurity at which, at some time during the year, people have run out of food, experienced hunger and at the most extreme, gone without food for a day or more. Measured based on the Food Insecurity Experience Scale. Undernourishment: a condition in which an individual's habitual food consumption is insufficient to provide the amount of dietary energy required to maintain a normal, active, healthy life. The prevalence of undernourishment is used to measure hunger (SDG indicator 2.1.1).

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UN Report: Global hunger numbers rose to as many as 828 million in 2021

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Rome/New York - The number of people affected by hunger globally rose to as many as 828 million in 2021, an increase of about 46 million since 2020 and 1 50 million since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic , according to a United Nations report that provides fresh evidence that the world is moving further away from its goal of ending hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition in all its forms by 2030.

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Estonia, Russia, Belarus and Lithuania border Latvia, a country on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. The country has been officially independent since 1991 due to the dissolution of the Soviet Union. As a country, Latvia is about half the size of Greece and has had a population of about 2.2 million people since 2019. However, underneath the country's beautiful scenery and culture, there is plenty of poverty and hunger in Latvia.

The Current State in Numbers

Of all the countries in the European Union, Latvia is the fourth poorest country. Due to this status, roughly 25% of the population in Latvia lives below the poverty line. With an average household size of 2.4 individuals, Latvian families may struggle, as the median household income is $7,732. Although the cost of living in Latvia is 28.54% lower than in the United States, the cost of living, transportation and other necessities do not always leave enough room for families to purchase food. The ones who suffer the most from food insecurity include young children and senior adults.

Although hunger has remained an ongoing problem in Latvia for years as a result of World War I, the country has made waves to fight it. According to the Global Health Index, a tool that rates countries one to 100 based on statistics like child mortality and malnourishment, Latvia is the fifth most improved country. From 2000 to 2015, there was a 59% decrease in hunger, with an average shift from 8.3 in 2000 to 3.4 in 2015.

Food Insecurity and Hunger

To decrease food insecurity within Latvia, several initiatives have emerged to help the country. A European Union program called Food Distribution for the Most Deprived Persons of the Community has been active since 2006 and receives funding from the European Agricultural Guarantee Fund. This organization works with the Latvian Red Cross to distribute food packages for individuals in need. According to a Transmango National Report on Food and Nutrition Security in 2015, there were 448 distribution centers throughout Latvia.

Besides this E.U.-sponsored program, NGOs and other charitable organizations, such as Paēdušai Latvija, have worked to combat hunger in Latvia. Paēdušai Latvija is a charity based in Riga, Latvia, that emerged in 2009. As of 2015, Paēdušai Latvija has a network of 56 charity organizations throughout Latvia. Besides the work its network is doing, Paēdušai Latvija receives more than 1,200 requests for emergency food supplies every month. However, it can only satisfy about 500 of those requests each month.

The Future of Hunger in Latvia

The programs in existence have proved successful as the rates of hunger in Latvia have plateaued. Since 2016, the rate of hunger in Latvia has remained stagnant at 2.5%. According to the 2019 Global Hunger Index (GHI), Latvia is one of 17 countries with a GHI score of less than five. Due to more and more individuals within the country and outside of it continuing to donate and mobilize individuals, the rate of hunger in Lativa seems as though it will shrink in the coming years.

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An Introduction to Hunger in Latvia - The Borgen Project

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Estonia, Russia, Belarus and Lithuania border Latvia, a country on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. The country has been officially independent since 1991 due to the dissolution of the Soviet Union. As a country, Latvia is about half the size of Greece and has had a population of about 2.2 million people since 2019.

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Global Hunger Index (GHI) - peer-reviewed annual publication designed to comprehensively measure and track hunger at the global, regional, and country levels

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ABOUT THE GLOBAL HUNGER INDEX SCORES

The Global Hunger Index (GHI) is a tool for comprehensively measuring and tracking hunger at global, regional, and national levels. GHI scores are based on the values of four component indicators:

Undernourishment: the share of the population with insufficient caloric intake.

Child stunting: the share of children under age five who have low height for their age, reflecting chronic undernutrition.

Child wasting: the share of children under age five who have low weight for their height, reflecting acute undernutrition.

Child mortality: the share of children who die before their fifth birthday, partly reflecting the fatal mix of inadequate nutrition and unhealthy environments.

Based on the values of the four indicators, a GHI score is calculated on a 100-point scale reflecting the severity of hunger, where 0 is the best possible score (no hunger) and 100 is the worst. Each country's GHI score is classified by severity, from low to extremely alarming.

To print any country profile, please click on the Print button on the webpage.

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The Global Hunger Index (GHI) is a tool for comprehensively measuring and tracking hunger at global, regional, and national levels. GHI scores are based on the values of four component indicators: Undernourishment: the share of the population with insufficient caloric intake.

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Tiny swimming robots may help clean up a microplastics mess

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Tiny swimming robots may help clean up a microplastics mess

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Stories from around the world showcase the problem of water inequality

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Stories from around the world showcase the problem of water inequality

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Students build robots to clean ocean trash

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Students build robots to clean ocean trash

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In Baltimore Harbor, Mr. Trash Wheel scoops up floating garbage

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In Baltimore Harbor, Mr. Trash Wheel scoops up floating garbage

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In Papua New Guinea, most people don't have access to clean water

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In Papua New Guinea, most people don't have access to clean water

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Unsafe water is a leading risk factor for death

Unsafe water is one of the world's largest health and environmental problems - particularly for the poorest in the world.

The Global Burden of Disease is a major global study on the causes and risk factors for death and disease published in the medical journal The Lancet.¹ These estimates of the annual number of deaths attributed to a wide range of risk factors are shown here. This chart is shown for the global total, but can be explored for any country or region using the "change country" toggle.

Lack of access to safe water sources is a leading risk factor for infectious diseases, including cholera, diarrhoea, dysentery, hepatitis A, typhoid and polio.² It also exacerbates malnutrition, and in particular, childhood stunting. In the chart we see that it ranks as a very important risk factor for death globally.

According to the Global Burden of Disease study 1.2 million people died prematurely in 2017 as a result of unsafe water. To put this into context: this was three times the number of homicides in 2017; and equal to the number that died in road accidents globally.

The global distribution of deaths from unsafe water

An estimated 1.2 million people died as a result of unsafe water sources in 2017. This was 2.2% of global deaths.

In low-income countries, it accounts for 6% of deaths.

In the map here we see the share of annual deaths attributed to unsafe water across the world. In 2017 this ranged from a high of 14% in Chad - around 1-in-7 deaths - to less than 0.01% across most of Europe.

When we compare the share of deaths attributed to unsafe water either over time or between countries, we are not only comparing the extent of water access, but its severity in the context of other risk factors for death. Clean water's share does not only depend on how many die prematurely from it, but what else people are dying from and how this is changing.

Death rates from unsafe water sources give us an accurate comparison of differences in its mortality impacts between countries and over time. In contrast to the share of deaths that we studied before, death rates are not influenced by how other causes or risk factors for death are changing.

In this map we see death rates from unsafe water sources across the world. Death rates measure the number of deaths per 100,000 people in a given country or region.

What becomes clear is the large differences in death rates between countries: rates are high in lower-income countries, particularly across Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. Rates here are often greater than 50 deaths per 100,000 - in the Central African Republic and Chad this was over 100 per 100,000.

Compare this with death rates across high-income countries: across Europe rates are below 0.1 deaths per 100,000. That's a greater than 1000-fold difference.

The issue of unsafe sanitation is therefore one which is largely limited to low and lower-middle income countries.

We see this relationship clearly when we plot death rates versus income, as shown here. There is a strong negative relationship: death rates decline as countries get richer.

Access to safe drinking water

SDG Target 6.1 is to : "achieve universal and equitable access to safe and affordable drinking water for all" by 2030.

Where are we today? In 2020, almost three-quarters (74%) of the world population had access to a safely managed water source. One-in-four people do not have access to safe drinking water.

In the chart we see the breakdown of drinking water access globally, and across regions and income groups. We see that in countries at the lowest incomes, less than one-third of the population have safe water. Most live in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Are we making progress? The world has made progress in the last five years. Unfortunately, this has been very slow. In 2015 (at the start of the SDGs) only 70% of the global population had safe drinking water. That means we've seen an increase of four percentage points over five years.

This is obviously far too slow to reach universal access by 2030. If progress continues at these rates, we would only reach 82% by 2030. If we're to meet our target we need to see rates of progress more than triple (increase 3.2-fold) for the coming decade.³

In the map shown we see the share of people across the world that have access to safe drinking water.

How many people do not have access to safe drinking water?

In the map shown we see the number of people across the world that do not have access to safe drinking water.

Access to improved water sources

The definition of an improved drinking water source includes "piped water on premises (piped household water connection located inside the user's dwelling, plot or yard), and other improved drinking water sources (public taps or standpipes, tube wells or boreholes, protected dug wells, protected springs, and rainwater collection)." Note that access to drinking water from an improved source does not ensure that the water is safe or adequate, as these characteristics are not tested at the time of survey. But improved drinking water technologies are more likely than those characterized as unimproved to provide safe drinking water and to prevent contact with human excreta.

In 2020, 6% of the world population did not have access to an improved water source.

In the map shown we see the share of people across the world that do not have access to improved water sources.

How many people don't have access to an improved water source?

In the map shown we see the number of people across the world that do not have access to an improved water source.

What determines levels of clean water access?

Access to improved water sources increases with income

The visualisation shows the relationship between access to improved water sources versus gross domestic product (GDP) per capita. We see that there is a general link between income and freshwater access.

Typically most countries with greater than 90% of households with improved water have an average GDP per capita of more than $10,000-15,000. Those at lower incomes tend to have a larger share of the population without access.

Although income is an important determinant, the range of levels of access which occur across countries of similar prosperity further support the suggestion that there are other important governance and infrastructural factors which contribute.

Rural households often lag behind on water access

In addition to the large inequalities in water access between countries, there are can also be large differences within country. In the charts we have plotted the share of the urban versus rural population with access to improved water sources and safely managed drinking water, respectively. Here we have also shown a line of parity; is a country lies along this line then access in rural and urban areas is equal.

Since nearly all points lie above this line, with very few exceptions, access to improved water sources is greater in urban areas relative to rural populations. This may be partly attributed to an income effect; urbanization is a trend strongly related to economic growth.⁴

The infrastructural challenges of developing municipal water networks in rural areas is also likely to play an important role in lower access levels relative to urbanised populations.

Improved water source: "An improved drinking water source includes piped water on premises (piped household water connection located inside the user's dwelling, plot or yard), and other improved drinking water sources (public taps or standpipes, tube wells or boreholes, protected dug wells, protected springs, and rainwater collection)."

Access to drinking water from an improved source does not ensure that the water is safe or adequate, as these characteristics are not tested at the time of survey. But improved drinking water technologies are more likely than those characterized as unimproved to provide safe drinking water and to prevent contact with human excreta. While information on access to an improved water source is widely used, it is extremely subjective, and such terms as safe, improved, adequate, and reasonable may have different meanings in different countries despite official WHO definitions. Even in high-income countries treated water may not always be safe to drink. Access to an improved water source is equated with connection to a supply system; it does not take into account variations in the quality and cost (broadly defined) of the service." ⁵

Safely managed drinking water: "Safely managed drinking water" is defined as an "Improved source located on premises, available when needed, and free from microbiological and priority chemical contamination."

'Basic' drinking water source: an "Improved source within 30 minutes round trip collection time."

'Limited' drinking water source: "Improved source over 30 minutes round trip collection time."

' Unimproved' drinking water source: "Unimproved source that does not protect against contamination."

'No service': access to surface water only.

Explore more of our work on Clean Water and Sanitation

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Clean and safe water is essential for good health. How did access change over time? Where do people lack access?

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The availability of fresh water is rapidly changing all over the world, creating a tenuous future that requires attention from policymakers and the public.

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Still many questions around Flint water crisis

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Still many questions around Flint water crisis

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High lead, copper levels seen in 19 Detroit schools' water

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High lead, copper levels seen in 19 Detroit schools' water

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You may know what race you are, but how would you prove it if someone disagreed with you? The fact is, race is a social and political construct that has evolved in fascinating and often confusing ways over the centuries.

Race is a social construct

With the 1776 edition of his book, On the Natural Variety of Mankind, German scientist Johan Friedrich Blumenbach is credited with creating one of the first race-based classifications. He decided on five categories: "Caucasian, the white race; Mongolian, the yellow race; Malayan, the brown race, Ethiopian, the black race, and American, the red race." Each race was ranked, and he put "Caucasian" at the top. This seemingly arbitrary ranking was the impetus for centuries of discrimination and inequality.

The US Census proves race is subjective

The evolution of race in the US Census illustrates just how hard it is to categorize people in a way that is inclusive and accurate. For example, in 1929, people who were of Mexican birth or ancestry in the United States were considered white. In 1930, they were considered non-white. In 1942, they were switched back to white. These dates are interesting because they align directly with the shifting political and economic agendas of the time.

Racial categories are not backed by science

Dorothy Roberts, the author of Fatal Invention: How Science, Politics, and Big Business Re-create Race in the Twenty-first Century explains that when the medical community links race to health outcomes, it's really just using race as a proxy for other factors such as where your ancestors came from, access to healthcare, and socioeconomic status. Sickle-cell anemia is a prime example of this. Commonly linked to race, this adaption is actually a product of environments where Malaria is prevalent, including some parts of Europe and Asia, in addition to Africa.

Although race isn't real, racism certainly is

The racial categories to which we're assigned, based on how we look to others or how we identify ourselves, can determine real-life experiences, inspire hate, drive political outcomes, and make the difference between life and death. But these important consequences are a result of a relatively new idea that was based on shaky reasoning and shady motivations.
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You may know what race you are, but how would you prove it if somebody disagreed with you? Jenée Desmond Harris explains.

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An interview with the founders of Black Lives Matter

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An interview with the founders of Black Lives Matter

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Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tometi

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Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tometi: An interview with the founders of Black Lives Matter | TED Talk

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Born out of a social media post, the Black Lives Matter movement has sparked discussion about race and inequality across the world. In this spirited conversation with Mia Birdsong, the movement’s three founders share what they’ve learned about leadership and what provides them with hope and inspirat…

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By Chelsea Bailey BBC News, Washington

One thing Americans find hard to talk about

February was Black History Month in the US, a time typically set aside to recognise African Americans and their contributions to the country.

This year's commemoration ended with insults and accusations of racism on the floor of Congress, at a televised hearing broadcast into millions of homes. But that exchange, between a Democrat and Republican, was hardly an isolated incident.

The month began with calls for Virginia's governor to resign after a photo emerged of him in blackface. And it ended with President Donald Trump - who himself has been accused of racism - saying Academy Award winner Spike Lee was being racist after the film director urged Americans to "do the right thing" and choose love over hate by helping to thwart Mr Trump's re-election hopes.

The flood of racially-charged headlines underlined a feeling shared by many - that 400 years after the first slaves were brought to the US, Americans still struggle to have meaningful conversations about race.

"We can't even have a productive conversation if people aren't open to looking in the mirror," said Ibram Kendi, director of the Antiracist Research and Policy Center at American University.

"Denial is essentially the heartbeat of racism in this country and every time you are not open to what you could be doing in the moment, you are living and breathing racism itself."

African Americans in New Orleans on the state of race relations

He says the first step to dismantling racism in the US is recognising that we can all shift between being racist and anti-racist.

"When someone is charged with doing something that's racist, instead of getting upset and lashing out, they should consider the evidence."

Conversations about race typically devolve into arguments because Americans have come to view the word "racist" a permanent label and not a description of an action, says Mr Kendi.

He now advocates for redefining the word "racist" as a reflection of both our beliefs and behaviours and not merely as an insult.

"A racist supports, by their action or inaction, policies that reproduce racial inequality. An anti-racist supports, with their actions, policies that reduce or eliminate racial inequality," says Mr Kendi.

"What you're doing and what you're saying is an expression of who you are in that moment."

Much of this discussion was sparked by the argument on the floor of the House of Representatives, which began when after Rashida Tlaib, a Democratic freshman, accused the Republican veteran congressman Mark Meadows of racism and using a black woman as a "prop".

Mr Meadows had asked Lynne Patton, a long-time employee of the Trump Organization, to attend the Michael Cohen hearing to refute accusations that President Trump was racist.

Speaking for Ms Patton, Mr Meadows said "as the daughter of a man born in Birmingham, Alabama, there is no way she would work for a man who is racist".

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When Ms Tlaib said that simply having a friend or employee who's a minority does not prohibit someone from being racist, the hearing quickly dissolved into a very heated row.

Social psychologist Daniel Effron, who studies morality and race, said there's a reason people often resort to the "black friend" defence when charged with racism.

Mr Effron said his research shows that whenever a person is accused of racism or their moral identity is challenged, they instinctively search for any example to bolster their "non-racist credentials", which can be a low bar.

"When people are motivated to find evidence that they're not prejudiced, they're more likely to think having a black friend is really strong evidence," he said.

Getty Images

Spike Lee never mentioned President Trump by name in his speech but it was interpreted as a message to vote him out

"We make a mountain of morality out of a molehill of virtue."

But even people with good intentions can face criticism when it comes to discussing race in America, as the director of the Oscar-winning movie Green Book discovered.

Set against the backdrop of the segregated South in the 1960s, the film follows the unlikely friendship between a black classical and jazz musician and his white chauffeur.

Critics accused the film of whitewashing history and furthering the "white saviour" trope in Hollywood.

More on race in the US

Racism in the US: Is there a single step that can bring equality?

Author and anti-racism activist Tim Wise said he thinks we need to reframe the way we teach race in America, shifting the emphasis away from an individual's actions and looking at the system as a whole.

"When we think about the way Americans teach racism historically, it is a story about individuals who did or did not own slaves, individuals who did or did not own segregated businesses. It's a lot harder to see systems of inequality," he said, adding that this can absolve people from reflecting on their own actions.

Mr Wise explores his own struggles with reconciling white privilege and racism in his autobiography White Like Me and has made a career out of navigating difficult conversations about racism.

He said he thinks Americans have been conditioned to believe certain racial stereotypes and unlearning those prejudices begins with recognising they exist in the first place. Until then, he said, we will continue to have circular arguments about race without making progress toward dismantling racism.

"It would be ridiculous to say, 'I don't have a racist bone in my body'... you grew up in America," he says.

"It's about saying, 'Look, I'm going to be humble enough to admit my weaknesses. Not because I want you to beat me up and not because I want to beat myself up, but because I know that I'm capable of better.'"

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A series of very public arguments over race blighted Black History Month and reminded us of an undisputed fact.

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Black boys viewed as older, less innocent than Whites, research finds

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Black boys viewed as older, less innocent than Whites, research finds

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WASHINGTON - Black boys as young as 10 may not be viewed in the same light of childhood innocence as their white peers, but are instead more likely to be mistaken as older, be perceived as guilty and face police violence if accused of a crime, according to new research published by the American Psychological Association.

"Children in most societies are considered to be in a distinct group with characteristics such as innocence and the need for protection. Our research found that black boys can be seen as responsible for their actions at an age when white boys still benefit from the assumption that children are essentially innocent," said author Phillip Atiba Goff, PhD, of the University of California, Los Angeles. The study was published online in APA's Journal of Personality and Social Psychology®.

Researchers tested 176 police officers, mostly white males, average age 37, in large urban areas, to determine their levels of two distinct types of bias - prejudice and unconscious dehumanization of black people by comparing them to apes. To test for prejudice, researchers had officers complete a widely used psychological questionnaire with statements such as "It is likely that blacks will bring violence to neighborhoods when they move in." To determine officers' dehumanization of blacks, the researchers gave them a psychological task in which they paired blacks and whites with large cats, such as lions, or with apes. Researchers reviewed police officers' personnel records to determine use of force while on duty and found that those who dehumanized blacks were more likely to have used force against a black child in custody than officers who did not dehumanize blacks. The study described use of force as takedown or wrist lock; kicking or punching; striking with a blunt object; using a police dog, restraints or hobbling; or using tear gas, electric shock or killing. Only dehumanization and not police officers' prejudice against blacks - conscious or not - was linked to violent encounters with black children in custody, according to the study.

The authors noted that police officers' unconscious dehumanization of blacks could have been the result of negative interactions with black children, rather than the cause of using force with black children. "We found evidence that overestimating age and culpability based on racial differences was linked to dehumanizing stereotypes, but future research should try to clarify the relationship between dehumanization and racial disparities in police use of force," Goff said.

The study also involved 264 mostly white, female undergraduate students from large public U.S. universities. In one experiment, students rated the innocence of people ranging from infants to 25-year-olds who were black, white or an unidentified race. The students judged children up to 9 years old as equally innocent regardless of race, but considered black children significantly less innocent than other children in every age group beginning at age 10, the researchers found.

The students were also shown photographs alongside descriptions of various crimes and asked to assess the age and innocence of white, black or Latino boys ages 10 to 17. The students overestimated the age of blacks by an average of 4.5 years and found them more culpable than whites or Latinos, particularly when the boys were matched with serious crimes, the study found. Researchers used questionnaires to assess the participants' prejudice and dehumanization of blacks. They found that participants who implicitly associated blacks with apes thought the black children were older and less innocent.

In another experiment, students first viewed either a photo of an ape or a large cat and then rated black and white youngsters in terms of perceived innocence and need for protection as children. Those who looked at the ape photo gave black children lower ratings and estimated that black children were significantly older than their actual ages, particularly if the child had been accused of a felony rather than a misdemeanor.

"The evidence shows that perceptions of the essential nature of children can be affected by race, and for black children, this can mean they lose the protection afforded by assumed childhood innocence well before they become adults," said co-author Matthew Jackson, PhD, also of UCLA. "With the average age overestimation for black boys exceeding four-and-a-half years, in some cases, black children may be viewed as adults when they are just 13 years old."

Article: "The Essence of Innocence: Consequences of Dehumanizing Black Children," Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, published online Feb. 24, 2014; Phillip Atiba Goff, PhD, and Matthew Christian Jackson, PhD; University of California, Los Angeles; Brooke Allison, PhD, and Lewis Di Leone, PhD, National Center for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Boston; Carmen Marie Culotta, PhD, Pennsylvania State University; and Natalie Ann DiTomasso, JD, University of Pennsylvania.

Phillip Atiba Goff, PhD, can be contacted by phone at (310) 206-8614 (preferred) or by email. If Goff is unavailable, contact Matthew Christian Jackson, PhD, by phone at (814) 574-9781 or by email.

The American Psychological Association, in Washington, D.C., is the largest scientific and professional organization representing psychology in the United States. APA's membership includes more than 134,000 researchers, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. Through its divisions in 54 subfields of psychology and affiliations with 60 state, territorial and Canadian provincial associations, APA works to advance the creation, communication and application of psychological knowledge to benefit society and improve people's lives.

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Black boys viewed as older, less innocent than Whites, research finds

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Black boys as young as 10 may not be viewed in the same light of childhood innocence as their white peers, but are instead more likely to be mistaken as older, be perceived as guilty and face police violence if accused of a crime.

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How to support protests when you're not affected by the issue

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How to support protests when you're not affected by the issue

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Is It OK to Attend Protests for Marginalized Groups If I’m Not Affected?

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We paired with Amnesty International USA to answer.

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Educators have many responsibilities. Three have been heightened in the past year:

Stand up against hate and intimidation, so schools stay safe for learning;

Engage the facts;

Protect the right to learn.

We've always had those responsibilities; they're just more necessary now than ever.

The past year has been fraught for students, teachers and schools. We've seen a spike in incidents of hate and bias on K-12 and college campuses nationwide. It's becoming obvious that every insult overheard on the nightly news, every tweet forwarded on social media and every slur scrawled on a building can have mounting consequences for students and schools. Public figures are explicitly threatening many students' rights and communities. Students are repeating these threats and claims to one another, sometimes without fully understanding them.

And simultaneously, some educators are getting labeled "partisan" if they simply challenge hate or bullying on their own campuses-or engage students in dialogue about real, controversial issues, or just affirm that all students have the right to learn safely in school.

This reality places a burden on educators, to be sure. But no matter our "politics," standing up against hate-and for learning-is the basic work of education. And who better than us to facilitate it?

Stand Up Against Hate and Intimidation

We're in an era of escalating hate and threat toward many of the young people and communities we serve. Undocumented and refugee students have been told that the president wants them out. The federal government is sending the message that schools don't have to honor LGBT students' identities. Boys have heard that disrespecting girls is OK. We've all heard racist, Islamophobic and xenophobic talk become more commonplace, accompanied by targeted policies. These sentiments get repeated on our campuses. Hate-filled violence is on the rise.

And as educators, it's our job to denounce hate and intimidation where we work, to make sure students feel safe to learn.

The U.S. Constitution protects a range of free expression rights in schools. Freedom of speech protects us all, so we don't simply outlaw all "offensive" ideas from our schools. But we don't allow true threats of harm in schools, either, because schools must remain safe for learning. Our civil rights laws also require educators to protect public school students from harassment based on race, color, national origin, sex, religion or disability because a school has a responsibility to maintain a safe and nondiscriminatory learning environment for all students. When hostile environments impede student learning, educators must take action to end the harassment, eliminate any hostile environment and its effects, and prevent the harassment from recurring.

Put these points together, and we see that schools are places where hateful speech and action, harassment and violence are supposed to be challenged, not ignored. As educators, we are both legally and morally responsible for fostering learning environments where people aren't denigrated and threatened so that students can participate in and benefit from school.

Educators must always model what it looks like to be an upstander: to stand up in the moment to challenge hateful speech and call instead for learning and respect. And the primary antidote to hate is preventive speech: continually talking about how to respect and value other human beings every day.

The triage work of educators is to challenge hate-to ask speakers to respect and value others so all can learn. The longer-term work is to prevent hateful activity on campus. And the longest-term, most powerful work is to make our resistance to hate routine, by consistently asking whether the most ordinary words we use in schools and society distort, misunderstand, misrepresent, denigrate or devalue people.

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Educators have always had the responsibility to stand up to hate and bias-but it's more necessary now than ever.

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This is why everyday racial profiling is so dangerous

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This is why everyday racial profiling is so dangerous

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This is why everyday racial profiling is so dangerous | CNN

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Racial profiling happens in ways many people don't realize. And it doesn't just hurt the victims - it harms the rest of society, too.

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What has caused the global housing crisis - and how can we fix it?

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What has caused the global housing crisis - and how can we fix it?

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Real Estate

An estimated 3 billion people will need access to adequate housing by 2030. Image: Unsplash/Maximillian Conacher

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What has caused the global housing crisis - and how can we fix it?

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By 2025, 1.6 billion people could be affected by the global housing shortage. But what exactly has caused it? And what are countries doing to tackle the issue?

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What can be done about global housing crisis?

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What can be done about global housing crisis?

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The lack of homes in major cities is endemic, but solutions exist-providing countries can muster the political capital.

Angharad Paget-Jones, from Port Talbot, Wales, doesn't expect to ever get on the housing ladder. Despite what money-saving advice and guides on the internet say, "it's not as easy as stopping drinking coffee in the morning or canceling your Netflix subscription," she says. Paget-Jones, 28, needs a home of her own to live in. As someone with disabilities, she sorely needs to adapt her property to make her quality of life better, but she can't do that in the rental market.

"Owning my own home is the goal," she says. But despite working full-time, she hasn't been able to save enough to get close to putting down a deposit. The average price of homes she's been looking at is around £180,000 ($235,000). She has around £3,000 ($3,900) in savings, while her rent is £675 a month. She's able to save around £200 a month, but higher costs of living have hit her hard. "I'm saving a lot more than most people, I understand, but with everything else going up, it's not possible to save more than that while being able to heat my home and eat," she says.

Paget-Jones' situation is far from unique. House prices are 4.4 times the average disposable income in the United States-the highest level since 2006. In England and Wales, it's 8.9 times, up from 6.7 times a decade ago. Canada is considering prohibiting foreigners from buying homes in the country after the average house price rose to nine times the average household income. The housing market is broken, with more people being left behind in a never-ending cycle of rentals because they can't afford to get a foot on the housing ladder.

This problem has been compounded by those with the money to invest choosing property over bank accounts after years of low interest rates, leaving the rest to spend their income on rent, rather than saving to buy a home of their own.

"Global interest rates being quite low has been fueling house prices going up around the world," says Dan Wilson Craw, deputy director of Generation Rent, a UK lobby group campaigning for renters' rights.

"Housing isn't housing," agrees Richard Ronald, professor of housing and chair of political and economic geographies at the University of Amsterdam. "Housing is an investment good. It's a pension."

It's a problem that countries worldwide have recognized, and many are trying to remedy. "There's a pretty big agreement that the supply and demand equation is very, very unbalanced," says Remy Raisner, founder of New York real estate investment firm the Raisner Group and coauthor of a World Economic Forum report on the global housing crisis. In the United States, housing production has been short around 3 million homes per decade this century.

Some suggest that Japan is the model to follow. There, rental prices have largely remained flat over the last 25 years, according to data from the country's statistics bureau. The reason is that the government controls zoning nationally and is more open to development in the number of houses it allows to be built. Just over a third of Japanese citizens rent the homes they live in, protected by a 1991 law called the Act on Land and Building Leases, which makes it difficult for landlords to end leases or prevent a tenant from extending their rental contract.

Combined, that means that Japanese citizens are the third-most satisfied with the availability of good, affordable housing of all OECD countries-more than 10 percentage points higher than the United States, and 20 percentage points higher than Canada.

"One thing that is unique to Japan is the entitlement process, meaning getting a permit for construction is less uncertain in Japan than in other countries," says Jiro Yoshida, associate professor of business at Penn State's Smeal College of Business. "Japanese zoning regulations and building code regulations are totally rule-based. Public officials and planning boards don't have much discretion." That's night and day compared to the United States, where local jurisdiction planning teams can bend and adapt the rules to their own whims. "Negotiation in the US is so uncertain and not obvious, that each local area has its own lawyers specializing in the entitlement process," says Yoshida.

Wilson Craw is supportive of the Japanese system being implemented elsewhere. "I think there's no reason why we can't have a Japanese-style housing system," he says. However, no politician wants to be responsible for reducing the price of property for fear of alienating homeowning voters, which means that embracing it is unlikely. Because new developments in tight-knit communities can be politically unfavorable, politicians have been dissuaded from accelerating the building of new homes.

The White House recently admitted that the pace of house building has not kept pace with population for more than 40 years and that homes that are built are too big and too expensive for first-time buyers. The number of new homes under 1,400 square feet being built in the United States is more than 80 percent lower than the amount built in the 1970s. Land is earmarked for golf courses, popular with older voters more likely to cast ballots, rather than houses.

Yet not everyone thinks that Japan's housing market is as rosy as it seems. While rental prices have stayed largely flat, the price of buying a property in Japan has increased, just as it has elsewhere. "Japan's system isn't better by any means," argues Ronald, who has been based between Japan and the Netherlands for the last two decades.

"It's just not overinflated, because there are fewer Japanese people in the world than when we started this phone call, but the same amount of houses." Japan's aging population has helped explain its comparative success when viewed from outside the country. "They haven't done anything magical with housing policies in Japan, and in fact they had a very destructive house price inflation," says Ronald. "There's nothing in Japanese housing policy that's particularly special." And even the country's successes would be difficult to mimic elsewhere. "That's one country that has been-for better or worse-pretty much completely rebuilt since the Second World War," says Raisner. "It's going to be hard to replicate this model where obviously there hasn't been the same amount of history, so to speak."

So where else should we be looking, if not to Japan, for the model to fix the broken housing market in large parts of the west? One option is Singapore, where public housing is built in specially designed communities and sold to individuals with a 99-year lease below market value. Selling on that property is highly restricted to reduce profiteering, but it can happen after five years of ownership. Nearly four in five Singaporeans live in public-sector housing, according to official statistics. "Prices can never get beyond regular working families," says Ronald. "They have this virtuous circle, and it makes it interesting to think about the role of regulating housing."

In Europe, there is another viable alternative playing out in Germany.

"Germany's model is a little bit too extreme and unique in the sense that they have so much public housing, but living in a rental unit is the norm in Germany," says Yoshida. The country has the second-lowest proportion of homeowners in the entire OECD. There, buying a home to live in isn't always the end goal. "In Germany, they live in rental units and buy a house as an investment," he says.

Tenants' rights became the focus of a campaign called DW und Co. Enteignen (Expropriate Deutsche Wohnen and Co.), designed to try and take a quarter-million properties out of the hands of private property owners and into public ownership, allowing fairer prices for tenants and a better chance at home ownership.

Property ownership is increasing in Germany alongside house prices as people see owning the roof above their heads as a sense of security post-pandemic-pushing prices higher, but not necessarily affecting the experience of many in the market. "Tenants have long-term, secure tenancies, and they can decorate and invest in their own homes, assuming they're going to live their lives there, have children, and have them grow up in rental housing," says Ronald.

Until late January 2022, housing developments in Germany were subsidized by the government below market rates for the first five years after being built. "It means tens of thousands of units every year come onto the market, keeping rental prices lower and preventing scrambles to buy a property," he says.

A similar model exists in Austria and Switzerland, where the split is roughly 55 to 45 percent (in favor of renting in Switzerland, and owning in Austria), compared to an average European home ownership rate of 70 percent. When you get to the Austrian capital, Vienna, the home ownership rate is just 7 percent.

"What German and Swiss housing policies to some extent do is ensure they provide subsidies to guarantee a reliable flow of low-cost rental housing into the system," says Ronald.

There are issues with the central European model, but in general, the countries that have made their housing markets work best are those that incentivize cheap rental prices or easy home ownership, while dissuading those who look to invest in properties as solely a revenue-generating source of income. "There's no reason we [the rest of the world] can't have that," says Wilson Craw. "But practically, getting from here to there, we need to think about what barriers the political system presents."

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What Can Be Done About the Global Housing Crisis? Plenty

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The lack of homes in major cities is endemic, but solutions exist-providing countries can muster the political capital. Angharad Paget-Jones, from Port Talbot, Wales, doesn't expect to ever get on the housing ladder. Despite what money-saving advice and guides on the internet say, "it's not as easy as stopping drinking coffee in the morning or canceling your Netflix subscription," she says.

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The Global Housing Watch tracks developments in housing markets across the world on a quarterly basis. It provides current data on house prices as well as metrics used to assess valuation in housing markets, such as house price‑to‑rent and house-price‑to‑income ratios.

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The Global Housing Watch tracks developments in housing markets across the world on a quarterly basis. It provides current data on house prices as well as metrics used to assess valuation in housing markets, such as house price-to-rent and house-price-to-income ratios.

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The affordable housing crisis in developing countries

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The affordable housing crisis in developing countries

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Housing is one of the basic human needs: the World Health Organization defined it as a “residential environment which includes, in addition to the physical structure that man uses for shelter, all necessary services, facilities, equipment and devices needed or desired for the physical and mental hea…

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3D-printed houses and the global housing crisis

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3D-printed houses and the global housing crisis

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Watching a giant robotic arm methodically deposit layers of concrete may not sound like a transfixing experience. But on TikTok, videos of this exact process-otherwise known as 3D printing-are racking up tens of millions of views and helping people envision a world in which affordable 3D-printed houses are the new norm.

Known as @thelayerlord on TikTok, Aiman Hussein has gained nearly 50,000 followers since joining the social platform last year to showcase the work of Alquist 3D, where he's the director of printing. His TikToks revolve around the process of 3D printing houses, with his most-watched videos showing how Alquist's printers systematically layer row after row of concrete to build up a home's exterior walls in a computer-generated pattern.

Just like smaller-scale 3D printers, Alquist's machines have a dispenser that pumps out layers of material-in this case, concrete-on top of each other, to construct a physical object. They follow a predetermined layout to form the design provided by a digital file. The process can be used to create anything from jewelry to furniture to the walls of a house.

Hussein says he started out taking his videos to document the company's work, but realized that something about them resonated with people on TikTok. "It's an oddly satisfying process that we do here," he says.

Viewers often leave jokey comments like "forbidden soft serve" and "I can't even get toothpaste to come out that smooth" on Hussein's posts, the most popular of which have been watched nearly 20 million times. However, others have questions. "I mean it's handy but how long does it take to build a house," one user commented on an August post that garnered over 16 million views. (Answer: an average of 20-30 hours).

But despite the growing potential of the 3D-printed homebuilding industry, challenges still exist that could hamper its mainstream expansion. For one thing, demand is very high but availability is extremely limited.

What is the current state of the 3D-printed home industry?

Since it was founded in 2020, Alquist has completed two 3D-printed house builds, one in Williamsburg, Va., and one in Richmond, Va. The idea of 3D-printed houses has also been gaining popularity in recent years. A survey published by Realtor.com in August 2021 found that 66% of consumers would consider living in a 3D-printed home. That number was even higher among younger generations, with 75% of millennials saying they'd be open to 3D-printed living accommodations. Around a third of respondents also said they believe that 3D printing is the future of homebuilding and will eventually come to replace more traditional methods.

Zachary Mannheimer, founder and CEO of Alquist, says that one of the biggest benefits of 3D printing is that it produces houses that are affordable, energy-efficient, and customizable.

Alquist is seeing cost savings of 15% for 3D-printed homes compared to traditional stick-built homes-i.e., homes that are built on site using a wooden frame. The company's goal is to increase cost savings to 30% by 2023, Mannheimer says.

In December, a Virginia family moved into the first 3D-printed Habitat for Humanity home in the U.S, built by the company. The concrete exterior of the 1,200-square-foot home was constructed in just 22 hours-around two-three weeks quicker than the standard construction schedule-and resulted in a three-bedroom, two-bathroom house.

"There's nothing different about one of our homes versus any other home except that the exterior walls are made out of concrete instead of wood. These homes are built nearly identically otherwise," Mannheimer says. "Our process just involves extruding concrete from a giant robot, which gives you savings in time and labor and material."

Through Habitat for Humanity's homebuyer program, the family living in Alquist's first owner-occupied 3D-printed home is responsible for monthly mortgage payments that are no more than 30% of its income, including real estate taxes and homeowner's insurance.

More from TIME

"Working with Habitat for Humanity was a fantastic experience. They were very like-minded and driven to drop costs down on all their structures," Hussein says. "It really showed how we can fulfill that mission statement of getting people into homes they can afford."

Mannheimer says that since the news of the Habitat home broke, Alquist has seen a big increase in requests, showing just how much demand there is for more affordable housing. "Since the home was completed and the first story about it came out, we've been averaging anywhere between 25-50 requests for 3D-printed homes per hour," he says. "So it has confirmed all our beliefs about why this is so important. The need is huge."

Following the success of its first two 3D-printed homes, Alquist is working on a new project related to affordable housing, to be announced at the end of April.

What challenges are 3D printing construction companies facing?

With the White House estimating that the U.S. has a shortage of as many as 4 million affordable housing units, the problem goes beyond anything that a viral TikTok could solve on its own. The biggest challenge currently facing the 3D-printed housing industry is scale, says Mannheimer: "At the moment, there's less than 10 companies using this technology in America. To really make a dent in the affordable housing crisis, we'd need more like 50."

But some experts say there are other fundamental issues holding 3D printing back from revolutionizing housing. Ryan Smith, director of the School of Design and Construction and a professor of architecture at Washington State University, says that while 3D printing has long-term potential to transform the construction industry, America's penchant for building houses with light wood framing is a major challenge for wider implementation of tech that relies on concrete.

Since labor and supply chains in the U.S. are set up to handle wood, Smith says that trying to upend the current system would create considerable logistical obstacles for the installation and repair of plumbing, electricity, HVAC and other systems. "If you change the means and methods of construction from a lightweight frame to concrete-based housing, you would have to develop a whole workforce around that to be able to manage it," he says.

Rather than trying to replace existing wall construction methods with 3D printing, Smith says companies should produce components of a house in a factory setting before assembling them at a homebuilding site. "You can embed mechanical, electrical, and plumbing much more easily in a factory than you can at the job," he says.

Some other housing companies already do this.

How TikTok is fueling the 3D printing hype

All of those hurdles mean that, for now, affordable 3D-printed homes aren't going mainstream anytime soon. But building interest is the first step, Mannheimer says. "The videos are getting views because they're so satisfying to watch," he says.

For members of younger generations facing a difficult path to home ownership, it's a compelling fantasy.

"It starts to unlock your imagination for what else is possible, " he says. "We can excite a whole new generation about building things with computers and machines instead of shovels."

More Must-Read Stories From TIME

Write to Megan McCluskey at megan.mccluskey@time.com.

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How the Company Behind TikTok's Viral 3D-Printed Houses Wants to Help Solve the Affordable Housing Crisis

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Watching a giant robotic arm methodically deposit layers of concrete may not sound like a transfixing experience. But on TikTok, videos of this exact process-otherwise known as 3D printing-are racking up tens of millions of views and helping people envision a world in which affordable 3D-printed houses are the new norm.

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A nonprofit building 3D-printed schools in Madagascar

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A nonprofit building 3D-printed schools in Madagascar

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A nonprofit building 3D-printed schools finished its first $300,000 build in Madagascar in 3 weeks

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Nonprofit Thinking Huts rented a COBOD printer to build its first prototype school in Madagascar. It took the printer 18 hours to complete the walls.

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Hotel-based homeless shelters changed lives during pandemic

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Hotel-based homeless shelters changed lives during pandemic

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Tracey Williams has been without a home for about half her life. The 60-year-old said she's cycled in and out of housing and homelessness because of substance use disorder, trauma and mental illness.

Last winter, while Williams was staying at Pine Street Inn's women's shelter in Boston, workers asked if she'd like to stay at Charles River Inn in Brighton. Pine Street is running the hotel as temporary shelter in the pandemic.

Williams described the move to her 300-square-foot hotel room as a "step up" from life in a crowded shelter where she had no privacy.

"I think this is an awesome place," Williams said, beaming as she welcomed guests into her room last February. "... It's just me and my roommate. I really believe that it helps with the transition [out of homelessness]."

Williams is one of hundreds of Massachusetts residents experiencing homelessness who stayed in a hotel or motel during the pandemic. For many months, the state funded hotels for people who had mild COVID but didn't have a home where they could isolate. Shelter providers have used motels to reduce crowding and health risks at their main sites.

For Williams and many others, this pandemic-linked effort has been a stabilizing force. Regular meetings at the hotel with case managers from Pine Street Inn and other organizations helped her look for housing and stay connected with services.

Williams said it's a lot easier to address personal challenges when living in a quiet, comfortable space. After moving to the hotel shelter, she said she felt less depressed and more motivated to attend her job training program and methadone treatment.

"I just came in here, and I hit the floor running," Williams said. "School, work - I just did everything I needed to do."

Leaders of this and other hotel-based shelters said it's easier to give clients greater attention when they stay in the same room. At typical shelters, guests are required to leave during the day and may not return. Here, people are regularly around.

According to the Massachusetts Housing & Shelter Alliance (MHSA), approximately 1,000 hotel and motel beds have been leased as shelter space during the pandemic. The nonprofit advocacy and policy organization said about 600 are still in use, paid for with state and federal funds.

"This is a new piece of strategy that really helped," said Gerry McCafferty, director of housing for the city of Springfield. McCafferty said Springfield hired outreach workers shortly after the pandemic started to ask people living outside if they wanted to stay in a motel or hotel.

People responded, " 'Oh, yeah, that I'll go to. I won't go to a shelter, but that I'll go to, sure,' " she recalled from the outreach workers' accounts.

"I can't think of a single instance where someone said no," McCafferty said. "We found someone in a park here who had been severely mentally ill and had been really off the grid, and had been living outside for 13 years ... never interested in any conversation. [He was] never interested in any services, but the hotel room, he was willing to take. And he's someone who is now moving toward housing."

That's happened over and over again, according to McCafferty. Advocates and leaders in Springfield have found it much easier to bring people into hotel- and motel-based shelters. And, they've seen more success moving people out of those facilities and into permanent housing with supportive services.

City officials examined data over a 22-month period that ended in April and found 46% of people who left local hotel shelters did so to enter permanent housing. By contrast, just 16% of people who stopped staying at the traditional adult homeless shelters in the area left them to enter permanent housing.

Not all providers observed that kind of success, according to leaders at MHSA. But, they said, that's largely due to a tight housing market, made worse by the pandemic causing fewer renters to move.

MHSA said people staying in hotel- and motel-based shelters largely felt safe and comfortable. For some of them, moving to their own apartment seemed daunting or risky given the limited housing options and their fear of future housing instability.

Still, according to MHSA, hotel-based shelters generally provide better conditions to assist people with getting into housing. One of the region's shelters is in Holyoke, where the nonprofit Center for Human Development has leased a former Motel 6.

The organization's senior director of homelessness services, Theresa Nicholson, said the individual-rooming approach to shelter is a critical option for people who struggle in typical group-style, or congregate, shelters.

"Sometimes it's folks that have severe addiction ... or it could be folks that have severe mental illness," Nicholson said.

The agency brings support professionals - including recovery coaches and mental health workers - into the hotel to give clients "an opportunity to talk about their life ... and have an opportunity for change," she said.

People experiencing homelessness who have physical disabilities or chronic health conditions also benefit greatly from non-congregate shelter settings, according to McCafferty.

Guests are told they must leave the properties to use drugs or alcohol. At the former Motel 6 in Holyoke, they have an 11 p.m. curfew, and a staff member has to let them into their rooms. Staffers check on guests every day, and they're given multiple chances to abide by the rules if they struggle, Nicholson said.

But clients aren't under constant supervision, and staff at the motel have administered Narcan twice to reverse overdoses, according to Center for Human Development. Another guest died from an overdose.

As difficult as those situations are, Nicholson said sometimes that "prompts someone else to say, 'I'm ready for help.' "

"Everybody deserves a chance. And everybody deserves to have permanent housing," she said. " And so if this can be their step before getting there, and we can help them become safer and healthier on that journey, then that's what we're here for."

According to homeless service providers and advocates, leasing hotels, motels, and even college dorms as shelter during the pandemic proved safer and healthier from the start. Rates of COVID-19 infection in shelters dropped, and providers realized they didn't want to return to overcrowded facilities.

"There was kind of this grand pivot to really starting to look at this differently, like ... a sense of not only were we depopulating, now we really shouldn't go back," said Joyce Tavon, senior director of policy and programs at MHSA.

State Rep. Natalie Higgins, of Leominster, wants the non-congregate model to become the standard for homeless shelters in Massachusetts. She said nearly 30% of her office's constituent services cases involve people experiencing homelessness or facing eviction. After seeing the success of a hotel shelter in her district, she sponsored a bill that calls on the state to transition away from congregate homeless shelters within five years.

"My dream is [that] shelter transitions to something that looks a whole lot more like housing," said Higgins. "And our hope is that shelter never becomes a long-term solution - that it is a place to get stabilized. It's a place to get connected with programming."

Higgins would like to see non-congregate shelters in every region of the state, open for guests 24 hours a day, seven days a week. She also wants there to be a universal system for how unaccompanied adults enter nearby shelters. The current patchwork of adult shelters is different from the family homeless shelter program, which is run by the state and has clear steps for families to sign up.

The legislation comes as the state is, for the first time ever, requiring emergency homeless shelters for adults to submit extensive documentation describing their programs in order to receive state funds.

There's resistance to Higgins' bill from some shelter leaders. They say they're concerned they could be forced to remodel or rebuild, without proper funding or an overall plan from the state.

"Do I think it's a terrific goal? Do I think we could get there? Yeah, but you can't just get there with legislation, with no funding and no roadmap," said Lyndia Downie, president and executive director of Pine Street Inn. "You've got to have a plan. ... You've got to be able to execute on it. And I'm not seeing any plan or any funding that's going to get us there at the moment."

The bill also calls on the state to scale up permanent housing for vulnerable populations. Many advocates say that's where energy and funding should be focused.

"If you can get a hotel or if you can get a building, it should be all about housing," said John Yazwinski, president and CEO of Father Bill's & MainSpring.

The nonprofit runs emergency homeless shelters and permanent housing programs on the South Shore. Early in the pandemic, it rented a struggling hotel in Brockton for some of its shelter guests. It then went a step further; it purchased the hotel to convert it to 69 units of permanent supportive housing. It's the first time a homeless service provider in Massachusetts has done that.

So far, 17 people have moved in as tenants, including 73-year-old Ray Allen Gaessler.

One day this past winter, Gaessler sat inside his studio apartment, doing one of his favorite activities: watching an old movie. He proudly showed off his large collection of DVDs and the TV he recently bought for himself, along with his kitchenette stocked with everything from spices to frozen meats.

Gaessler explained he became homeless several years ago when his marriage failed. Injuries from an accident kept him from working. Now, he's just happy to have a small space he can call home.

"You get to clean it, you get to cook your own food and decide when you want to go to bed and when you don't," Gaessler said. Asked if he really likes to clean it, he responded, "That's part of the good part."

Father Bill's & MainSpring is able to convert the hotel for about half of what it normally costs to develop affordable housing, since the bones of the rooms and bathrooms were already there. It's about $150,000 per unit, with a total project cost of just over $10 million - mostly paid for with state dollars, along with some private grants, according to Yazwinski.

The whole thing happened in record time for the organization, he said; it helped that the nonprofit had deep experience both developing and operating housing properties. This is its biggest to date. And the local community supported the project. Smaller homeless service organizations often run into resistance and financial roadblocks, including market competition for potential properties. Yazwinski said he hopes that will change - and that this moment won't be lost.

"We don't want hotels to go out of business. But ... if it's going to be a place that sits, you know, or struggles, then let's look at it as a great opportunity," he said. "It's time to end homelessness. Let's all get the political will needed at the local, state and federal level to do it now."

According to The Massachusetts Lodging Association, a very small percentage of hotels and motels in the state have gone out of business or up for sale during the pandemic. It doesn't collect data on hotel closings.

Meanwhile, there's a pool of money that could give Massachusetts a big boost when it comes to the development of permanent supportive housing. The state dedicated $150 million in federal pandemic relief funds from the American Rescue Plan Act for that purpose. Advocates are working to develop a plan to get the most out of the money.

As for Tracey Williams, she's taken another step toward permanent housing. She's moved into her own room, in an apartment with others who were previously sheltered at Pine Street Inn. She said she has a lease and can stay there for up to a year, as she builds a new tenancy history and works with case managers to find a place of her own.

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Hotel-based homeless shelters changed lives in pandemic. Some want them to be a model moving forward

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Tracey Williams of Boston is one of many people experiencing homelessness in Massachusetts who saw their lives turn around after staying in a hotel-based shelter during the pandemic. Now some say this "non-congregate" form of shelter should become the standard, while others say the focus should be on creating permanent supportive housing.

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Mental health takes top role at Olympics

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Mental health takes top role at Olympics

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Teen develops video game to assess mental health

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Teen develops video game to assess mental health

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Mental health support can help students making tough transition to college

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Mental health support can help students making tough transition to college

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Study suggests video games can help mental health

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Study suggests video games can help mental health

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Keep an eye out for mental health problems, athletic trainers told

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Keep an eye out for mental health problems, athletic trainers told

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New law gives Oregon students mental health days

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New law gives Oregon students mental health days

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Poor Mental Health Impacts Adolescent Well-being

The number of adolescents reporting poor mental health is increasing.

Building strong bonds and connecting to youth can protect their mental health.

Schools and parents can create protective relationships with students and help them grow into healthy adulthood.

Adolescent Mental Health Continues to Worsen

CDC's Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Data Summary & Trends Report: 2011-2021 [PDF - 10 MB] highlights concerning trends about the mental health of U.S. high school students.

In 2021, more than 4 in 10 (42%) students felt persistently sad or hopeless and nearly one-third (29%) experienced poor mental health.

In 2021, more than 1 in 5 (22%) students seriously considered attempting suicide and 1 in 10 (10%) attempted suicide.

These data bring into focus the level of distress many students are experiencing.

Some groups are more affected than others.

Why Is This a Big Deal?

Poor mental health in adolescence is more than feeling blue. It can impact many areas of a teen's life. Youth with poor mental health may struggle with school and grades, decision making, and their health.

Mental health problems in youth often go hand-in-hand with other health and behavioral risks like increased risk of drug use, experiencing violence, and higher risk sexual behaviors that can lead to HIV, STDs, and unintended pregnancy.

Because many health behaviors and habits are established in adolescence that will carry over into adult years, it is very important to help youth develop good mental health.

The good news is that teens are resilient, and we know what works to support their mental health: feeling connected to school and family.

Fortunately, the same prevention strategies that promote mental health-like helping students feel connected to school/family-help prevent a range of negative experiences, like drug use and violence.

Building strong bonds and relationships with adults and friends at school, at home and in the community provides youth with a sense of connectedness.

This feeling of connectedness is important and can protect adolescents from poor mental health, and other risks like drug use and violence.

Youth need to know someone cares about them. Connections can be made virtually or in person.

There is a Role for Everyone in Supporting Teen Mental Health

As we've learned nationally during the COVID-19 pandemic, schools are critical in our communities to supporting children and families. While the expectation is that schools provide education, they also provide opportunities for youth to engage in physical activity and academic, social, mental health, and physical health services, all of which can relieve stress and help protect against negative outcomes.

However, the pandemic disrupted many school-based services, increasing the burden on parents, increasing stress on families, and potentially affecting long-term health outcomes for parents and children alike, especially among families already at risk for negative health outcomes from social and environmental factors.

Critical supports and services need to be comprehensive and community wide and should include:

Help students cope with emergencies and their aftermath.

Provide safe and supportive environments-whether in person or virtually.

Linking students to mental health services.

Integrating social emotional learning.

Training staff.

Supporting staff mental health.

Reviewing discipline policies to ensure equity.

Building safe and supportive environments.

Communicate openly and honestly, including about their values.

Supervise their adolescent to facilitate healthy decision-making.

Spend time with their adolescent enjoying shared activities.

Become engaged in school activities and help with homework.

Volunteer at their adolescent's school.

Communicate regularly with teachers and administrators.

Ask adolescents about family relationships and school experiences as a part of routine health screenings.

Encourage positive parenting practices.

Engage parents in discussions about how to connect with their adolescents, communicate effectively, and monitor activities and health behaviors.

Educate parents and youth about adolescent development and health risks.

Parents and families may find the following resources helpful to support the mental and emotional well-being of their adolescents:

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Learn about the teen mental health crisis, who is at most risk, and how schools and families can protect teen mental health.

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National, state data on mental health pandemic for youth

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National, state data on mental health pandemic for youth

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Children in America are in the midst of a mental health crisis, struggling with anxiety and depression at unprecedented levels, according to the , released today by the Annie E. Casey Foundation with 50-state data on child well-being. The annual report focuses this year on youth mental health, concurring with a recent assessment by the U.S. surgeon general that current conditions amount to a youth mental health pandemic. The report sheds light on the health, economic and other challenges affecting American children.

The Data Book reports that children across America, and in more than 40 states and the District of Columbia, were more likely to encounter anxiety or depression during the first year of the crisis than previously, with the national figure jumping 26%, from 9.4% among children ages 3-17 (5.8 million kids) to 11.8% (7.3 million) between 2016 and 2020, the year swept across the United States. This increase represents 1.5 million more children who are struggling to make it through the day.

"Mental health is just as important as physical health in a child's ability to thrive," says Lisa Hamilton, president and CEO of the Casey Foundation. ​"As our nation continues to navigate the fallout from the crisis, policymakers must do more to ensure all kids have access to the care and support they need to cope and live full lives."

Children and youth have suffered trauma and tremendous loss over the past two and a half years. By July 2022, more than 1 million people in America had died from the novel coronavirus, including more than 1,600 children, and more than 200,000 kids had lost a parent or primary caregiver. And even as they experience COVID-era mental health challenges, many children have contended with conditions that made life harder well before 2020.

Racial and ethnic disparities contribute to disproportionately troubling mental health and wellness conditions among children of color. Nine percent of high-schoolers overall but 12% of Black students, 13% of students of two or more races and 26% of American Indian or Native Alaskan high-schoolers attempted suicide in the year prior to the most recent federal survey. Further, many LGBTQ young people are encountering challenges as they seek mental health support. Among heterosexual high school students of all races and ethnicities, 6% attempted suicide; the share was 23% for gay, lesbian or bisexual students.

Economic uncertainty has had an outsized effect on children and families experiencing financial challenges, leading to increased anxiety and stress for many. Children in poverty, whose parents lack secure employment and children in households with high housing cost burdens feel the weight of their family's economic stress. Children who live in under-resourced communities may experience additional stress from safety and security concerns. The report finds:

17% of children of all backgrounds live in poverty, but among African American and American Indian children, that proportion is close to a third, at 32% and 31% respectively.

27% of all children have parents lacking secure employment, but that number goes up to 44% and 41% for American Indian and African American children respectively.

Latino children also face a higher burden in these two categories than their white counterparts.

Uninsured children are less likely to have access to mental health services, preventing them from securing the help they need in times of crisis.

In December, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy issued an advisory on the urgent need to address the nation's youth mental health crisis. Encouragingly, there appears to be broad agreement on the need for action. The Casey Foundation calls for lawmakers to heed the surgeon general's warning and respond by developing programs and policies to ease mental health burdens on children and their families. They urge policymakers to:

Prioritize meeting kids' basic needs. Youth who grow up in poverty are two to three times more likely to develop mental health conditions than their peers. Children need a solid foundation of nutritious food, stable housing and safe neighborhoods - and their families need financial stability - to foster positive mental health and wellness.

Ensure every child has access to the mental health care they need, when and where they need it. Schools should increase the presence of social workers, psychologists and other mental health professionals on staff and strive to meet the 250-to‑1 ratio of students to counselors recommended by the American School Counselor Association, and work with local health care providers and local and state governments to make additional federal resources available and coordinate treatment.

Bolster mental health care that considers young people's experiences and identities. It should be trauma-informed - designed to promote a child's healing and emotional security - and culturally relevant to the child's life. It should be informed by the latest evidence and research and should be geared toward early intervention, which can be especially important in the absence of a formal diagnosis of mental illness.

Each year, the Data Book presents national and state data from 16 indicators in four domains - economic well-being, education, health, and family and community factors - and ranks the states according to how children are faring overall. The data in this year's report are a mix of pre-pandemic and more recent figures and are the latest available. Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Minnesota rank first, second and third in overall well-being in the 2022 Data Book; Mississippi, Louisiana and New Mexico ranked 48 th, 49 th and 50 th.

"American policymakers must prioritize solutions that don't leave anyone behind," Hamilton says. ​"Children deserve to thrive regardless of their background or in which state they live."
Subscribe to for future data updates

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National, State Data on Mental Health Pandemic for Youth

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Chil­dren in Amer­i­ca are in the midst of a men­tal health cri­sis, strug­gling with anx­i­ety and depres­sion at unprece­dent­ed lev­els, accord­ing to the , released today by the Annie E. Casey Foun­da­tion with 50-state data on child well-being. The annu­al report focus­es this year on youth men­tal health, con­cur­ring with a recent assess­ment by the U.S.

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Youth mental health crisis - are schools doing enough?

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Youth mental health crisis - are schools doing enough?

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CECILIA, Ky. (AP) - For fourth-grader Leah Rainey, the school day now begins with what her teacher calls an "emotional check-in."

"It's great to see you. How are you feeling?" chirps a cheery voice on her laptop screen. It asks her to click an emoji matching her state of mind: Happy. Sad. Worried. Angry. Frustrated. Calm. Silly. Tired.

Depending on the answer, Leah, 9, gets advice from a cartoon avatar on managing her mood and a few more questions: Have you eaten breakfast? Are you hurt or sick? Is everything OK at home? Is someone at school being unkind? Today, Leah chooses "silly," but says she struggled with sadness during online learning.

At Lakewood Elementary School, all 420 students will start their days the same way this year. The rural Kentucky school is one of thousands across the country using the technology to screen students' state of mind and alert teachers to anyone struggling.

In some ways, this year's back-to-school season will restore a degree of pre-pandemic normalcy: Most districts have lifted mask mandates, dropped COVID vaccine requirements and ended rules on social distancing and quarantines.

But many of the pandemic's longer-lasting impacts remain a troubling reality for schools. Among them: the harmful effects of isolation and remote learning on children's emotional well-being.

Student mental health reached crisis levels last year, and the pressure on schools to figure out solutions has never been greater. Districts across the country are using federal pandemic money to hire more mental health specialists, rolling out new coping tools and expanding curriculum that prioritizes emotional health.

Still, some parents don't believe schools should be involved in mental health at all. So-called social-emotional learning, or SEL, has become the latest political flashpoint, with conservatives saying schools use it to promote progressive ideas about race, gender and sexuality, or that a focus on well-being takes attention from academics.

But at schools like Lakewood, educators say helping students manage emotions and stress will benefit them in the classroom and throughout life.

The school, in a farming community an hour's drive south of Louisville, has used federal money to create "take-a-break" corners in each classroom. Students can rifle through a "self-regulation kit" with tips on deep breathing, squishy stress balls and acupuncture rings, said school counselor Shelly Kerr. The school plans to build a "Reset Room" this fall, part of an emerging national trend to create campus sanctuaries where students can go to decompress and speak with a counselor.

The online student screener Lakewood uses, called Closegap, helps teachers identify shy, quiet kids who might need to talk and would have otherwise gone unnoticed.

Closegap founder Rachel Miller launched the online platform in 2019 with a few schools and saw interest explode after the pandemic hit. This year, she said, more than 3,600 U.S schools will be using the technology, which has free and premium versions.

"We are finally beginning to recognize that school is more than just teaching the kids reading, writing and arithmetic," said Dan Domenech, executive director of the national School Superintendents Association. Just as free lunch programs are based on the idea that a hungry child can't learn, more and more schools are embracing the idea that a cluttered or troubled mind cannot focus on schoolwork, he said.

The pandemic magnified the fragility of mental health among American youth, who had been experiencing a rise in depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts for years, experts say. A recent report issued by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found 44% of high school students said they experienced " persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness " during the pandemic, with girls and LGBTQ youth reporting the highest levels of poor mental health and suicide attempts.

If a silver lining exists, the pandemic raised awareness of the crisis and helped de-stigmatize talking about mental health, while also bringing attention to schools' shortcomings in handling it. President Joe Biden's administration recently announced over $500 million to expand mental health services in the country's schools, adding to federal and state money that has poured into schools to cope with pandemic-era needs.

Still, many are skeptical schools' responses are enough.

"All of these opportunities and resources are temporary," said junior Claire Chi, who attends State College Area High School in central Pennsylvania. Last year, her school added emergency counseling and therapy dogs, among other supports, but most of that help lasted a day or two, Chi said. And that's "not really a mental health investment for students." This year, the school says it has added more counselors and plans mental health training for all 10th graders.

Some critics, including many conservative parents, don't want to see mental health support in schools in the first place. Asra Nomani, a mom from Fairfax County, Virginia, says schools are using the mental health crisis as a "Trojan horse" to introduce liberal ideas about sexual and racial identity. She also worries schools lack the expertise to deal with student mental illness.

"Social-emotional well-being has become an excuse to intervene in the lives of children in the most intimate of ways that are both dangerous and irresponsible," Nomani said, "because they're in the hands of people who are not trained professionals."

Despite the unprecedented funding, schools are having trouble hiring counselors, mirroring the shortages in other American industries.

Goshen Junior High School in northwest Indiana has been struggling to fill a vacancy of a counselor who left last year, when student anxiety and other behavioral problems were "off the charts," said Jan Desmarais-Morse, one of two counselors left at the school, with caseloads of 500 students each.

"One person trying to meet the needs of 500 students?" said Desmarais-Morse said. "It's impossible."

The American School Counselor Association recommends a ratio of 250 students per school counselor, which few states come close to meeting.

For the 2020-21 school year only two states - New Hampshire and Vermont - achieved that goal, according to an Associated Press analysis of data from the National Center for Education Statistics. Some states face staggeringly high ratios: Arizona averages one counselor to 716 students; in Michigan, 1 to 638; and in Minnesota, 1 to 592.

Also in Indiana, the School City of Hammond won a grant to hire clinical therapists at all 17 of its schools but has not been able to fill most of the new jobs, said Superintendent Scott Miller. "Schools are stealing from other schools. There just aren't enough workers to go around." And despite more funding, school salaries can't compete with private counseling practices, which are also overwhelmed and trying to hire more staff.

Another challenge for schools: identifying struggling children before they're in emotional crisis. At the Houston Independent School District, one of the largest in the country with 277 schools and nearly 200,000 students, students are asked each morning to hold up fingers showing how they feel. One finger means a child is hurting deeply; five means she or he feels great.

"It's identifying your brush fires early in the day," said Sean Ricks, the district's senior manager of crisis intervention.

Houston teachers now give mindfulness lessons, with ocean sounds played via YouTube, and a Chihuahua named Luci and a cockapoo named Omi have joined the district's crisis team.

Grant-funding helped Houston build relaxation rooms, known as Thinkeries, at 10 schools last year, costing about $5,000 each. District data show campuses with Thinkeries, which sport bean bag chairs and warmly colored walls, saw a 62% decrease in calls to a crisis line last year, Ricks said. The district is building more this year.

But the rooms themselves are not a panacea. For the calming rooms to work, schools must teach students to recognize they feel angry or frustrated. Then they can use the space to decompress before their emotions erupt, said Kevin Dahill-Fuchel, executive director of Counseling in Schools, a nonprofit that helps schools bolster mental health services.

In the last days of summer vacation, a "Well Space" at University High School in Irvine, California, was getting finishing touches from an artist who painted a mural of a giant moon over mountains. Potted succulents, jute rugs, Buddha-like statuettes and a hanging egg chair brought an un-school-like feel. When school starts this week, the room is to be staffed full-time with a counselor or mental health specialist.

The goal is to normalize the idea of asking for help and give students a place to reset. "If they can re-center and refocus," said Tammy Blakely, the district's director of student support services, "they can then, after a short break, go back into their classrooms and be prepared for deeper learning."

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This story has been updated to restore first name and title of Tammy Blakely, the Irvine, California, director of support services.

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For more back-to-school coverage, visit: https://apnews.com/hub/back-to-school

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Gecker reported from San Francisco. Associated Press reporters Heather Hollingsworth in Mission, Kansas; Arleigh Rodgers in Indianapolis; Brooke Schultz in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; and Kavish Harjai in Los Angeles contributed.

Rodgers, Schultz and Harjai are corps members for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

The Associated Press education team receives support from the Carnegie Corporation of New York. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

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Youth mental health is in crisis. Are schools doing enough?

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CECILIA, Ky. (AP) - For fourth-grader Leah Rainey, the school day now begins with what her teacher calls an "emotional check-in." "It's great to see you. How are you feeling?" chirps a cheery voice on her laptop screen. It asks her to click an emoji matching her state of mind: Happy.

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Biden-Harris Administration announces two new actions to address youth mental health crisis

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Biden-Harris Administration announces two new actions to address youth mental health crisis

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Our nation's young people are facing an unprecedented mental health crisis. Even before the pandemic, rates of depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts among youth were on the rise. The pandemic exacerbated those issues, disrupting learning, relationships, and routines and increasing isolation - especially among our nation's young people. More than 40 percent of teenagers state that they struggle with persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness, and more than half of parents and caregivers express concern over their children's mental well-being.

To address this crisis, President Biden put forward in his first State of the Union a comprehensive national strategy to tackle our mental health crisis, and called for a major transformation in how mental health is understood, accessed, treated, and integrated - in and out of health care settings.

Today, the Biden-Harris Administration announced two new actions to strengthen school-based mental health services and address the youth mental health crisis.

1. Awarding the first of nearly $300 million the President secured through the FY2022 bipartisan omnibus agreement to expand access to mental health services in schools. Next week, the Department of Education will begin the process to disburse almost $300 million Congress appropriated in FY22 through both the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act and the FY22 Omnibus to help schools hire more school-based mental health professionals and build a strong pipeline into the profession for the upcoming school year. In total, the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act will invest $1 billion over the next five years in mental health supports in our schools, making progress towards the President's goal to double the number of school counselors, social workers and other mental health professionals. This funding is allocated to two critical programs:

The Mental Health Service Professional (MHSP) Demonstration Grant Program. In FY22, this program will provide over $140 million in competitive grants to support a strong pipeline into the mental health profession, including innovative partnerships to prepare qualified school-based mental health services providers for employment in schools.

School-Based Mental Health (SBMH) Services Grant Program. In FY22, this program will provide over $140 million in competitive grants to states and school districts to increase the number of qualified mental health services providers delivering school-based mental health services to students in local educational agencies with demonstrated need. This will increase the number of school psychologists, counselors, and other mental health professionals serving our students. Some schools will gain mental health staff for the first time. Others will see this critical workforce expand. By increasing the number of qualified mental health professionals in our schools, and thereby reducing the number of students each provider serves, this program will meaningfully improve access to mental health services for vulnerable students.

In the following months, the Biden Administration will deliver the following additional FY22 funding that can be used to expand access to mental health services and supports in schools:

Fostering Trauma-Informed Services in Schools. Young people have been especially impacted by the trauma of COVID. Over the next several weeks, the Department of Health and Human Services will begin evaluating applications to award nearly $7 million to education activities designed to help students access evidence-based and culturally relevant trauma support services and mental health care. Applications were submitted on July 25, 2022, and award announcements will be made this fall. The grant funds will help create partnerships that link school systems with local trauma-informed support and mental health systems to provide services to students in need.

Expanding Mental Health Services Through Full-Service Community Schools. The Biden-Harris Administration has proposed expanding funding for community schools, which play a critical role in providing comprehensive services to students and families to improve academic outcomes and student well-being. In response to the President's FY22 budget, Congress more than doubled funding for the Department of Education's Full-Service Community Schools Program, which supports community schools that provide, or establish partnerships to provide, a range of wraparound supports for students and their families - including health, nutrition and mental health services. Earlier this month, the Department announced plans to award $68 million in funds for 40 new grantees. All grantees are required to provide integrated student services, which can include mental health services and supports.

Responding to Childhood Trauma Associated with Community Violence. The FY22 omnibus included $5 million for the Department of Education's Project Prevent, a program that provides grants to help school districts increase their capacity to implement community- and school-based strategies to mitigate community violence and the impacts on students. Experiencing or witnessing violence in the community is an adverse childhood experience linked to chronic health issues, including mental health. Project Prevent seeks to build a bridge between schools and community-based organizations to provide students with the tools to break cycles of generational violence and trauma, including through the use of mental health services and supports.

2. Encouraging Governors to Invest More in School-Based Mental Health Services.
In a letter sent today to Governors across the country, the Departments of Education and Health and Human Services highlight federal resources available to states and schools to invest in mental health services for students. The joint letter from Secretaries Becerra and Cardona highlights actions by the Biden-Harris Administration to improve the delivery of health care in schools and make sure children enrolled in Medicaid have access to comprehensive health care services, as required by law. The letter also previews forthcoming Medicaid guidance on how states can leverage Medicaid funding to deliver critical mental health care services to more students, including ways to make it easier to bill Medicaid for these services.
Next Up: $1.7 Billion for Mental Health Thanks to the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act
An additional $1.7 billion for mental health is headed to our schools and communities thanks to the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA) signed by President Biden last month. Provisions of this legislation authorize funding and technical assistance in the following areas:

Expanding Community Based Behavioral Health Services. $40 million for the Department of Health and Human Services to support the Certified Community Behavioral Health Clinic (CCBHC) Medicaid Demonstration Program, including support for new planning grants to states. CCBHCs provide comprehensive, coordinated, person-and family-centered services and 24/7 crisis intervention services.

Enhancing Delivery of School-Based Mental Health. Working with the Department of Education, HHS will establish a technical assistance center and award grants for implementing, enhancing, or expanding the provision of assistance through schools under Medicaid and CHIP.

Improving Oversight of Medicaid's Early and Periodic Screening, Diagnostic and Treatment Benefit. HHS will review and identify gaps in state implementation of ESPDT compliance, provide technical assistance, and issue guidance to states in order to improve implementation of this critical benefit.

Increasing Access to Children's Mental Health Services. $80 million to HHS to award grants to support pediatric primary care providers, emergency departments, and schools to rapidly access mental health specialists' expertise and better connect children to care. The Act also requires CMS to provide guidance to states on how they can increase access to behavioral health through telehealth under Medicaid and CHIP.

Expanding Training for Pediatric Providers. $60 million, over five years, for HHS to train primary care residents in the prevention, treatment, and referral of services for mental and behavioral health conditions for pediatric and adolescents.

Supporting Community and First Responders Mental Health Training. $120 million for HHS to prepare and train community members and first responders on how to appropriately recognize and safely respond to individuals with mental health problems.

Building Awareness of and Access to Mental Health Services. $240 million for programs that increase awareness and access to mental health supports for school-aged youth.

Providing Support after Traumatic Events. $40 million to improve treatment and services for children, adolescents, and families who have experienced traumatic events.

Enhancing the 9-8-8 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. $150 million to support implementation of the 24/7 hotline to provide free and confidential support to people in suicidal crisis or emotional distress.

Improving Conditions for Student Learning. $1 billion in funding through Title IV-A to support a variety of activities to improve conditions for student learning through evidence-based practices to promote positive school climates.

Expanding Access to Out of School Programs. $50 million in funding to the 21st Century Community Learning Centers (21st CCLC) program to fund extracurricular, after school and summer programs, with a focus on reengaging youth. The Department of Education will support grantees in using funds to build relationships between students and educators, and other adults who serve students, in ways that help students feel less isolated and more connected to their school, improving their overall mental health and well-being.

Building on Progress
These actions build upon earlier investments and announcements designed to expand access to mental health services for youth and further President Biden's Unity Agenda. In just 18 months, President Biden has invested unprecedented resources in addressing the mental health crisis and providing young people the supports, resources, and care they need. Through the American Rescue Plan (ARP), the Biden-Harris Administration has invested over $5 billion in funding through the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to expand access to mental health and substance use services, and school districts are estimated to use an additional $2 billion in Department of Education ARP Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds to hire more school psychologists, counselors and other mental health professionals in K-12 schools. And the President's FY23 budget proposes over $27 billion in discretionary funding and another $100 billion in mandatory funding over 10 years to implement his national mental health strategy.

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FACT SHEET: Biden-Harris Administration Announces Two New Actions to Address Youth Mental Health Crisis | The White House

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Our nation's young people are facing an unprecedented mental health crisis. Even before the pandemic, rates of depression, anxiety and suicidal thoughts among youth were on the rise. The pandemic exacerbated those issues, disrupting learning, relationships, and routines and increasing isolation - especially among our nation's young people.

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Anxiety, loneliness and Fear of Missing Out: The impact of social media on young people’s mental health

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Anxiety, loneliness and Fear of Missing Out: The impact of social media on young people’s mental health

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Anxiety, loneliness and Fear of Missing Out: The impact of social media on young people’s mental health | Centre for Mental Health

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Rhys shares his view on the impact of social media on mental health