Country Profile: Kyrgyzstan
Total Population: 6.5 million
Total Children under the age of 18: 2.3 million
The situation of children in Kyrgyzstan
The Challenges:
- More than 11,000 children are placed in residential care institutions, despite most of them having at least one parent alive.
- Over 57 percent of children aged 1-14 have experienced violent disciplining. This includes violence in schools, within families, in residential care, and elsewhere. Abuse and violence include bullying and trafficking, and corporal punishment, which is not expressly prohibited. Children of migrants are particularly vulnerable to violence, abuse and neglect, as they are often left behind with inadequate support and supervision or in residential care.
- Almost 73 percent of children report experiencing abuse or neglect in the family.
- Kyrgyzstan is the second poorest country in Central Asia. Over 36% of Kyrgyz children grow up in poverty, and 7% live in extreme conditions of poverty.
- It is unlawful for children under 16 to marry; forced marriages are becoming a common practice. Each year around 16,000 girls are abducted, raped, and forced to marry their abductors.
- Over 29,000 children with disabilities. They have poor access to quality healthcare, education, and social services that meet their needs.
Other Information about Orphaned and Vulnerable Children and Family Care in Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan WO Website - https://www.kbs.kg
Better Care Network Information on Family-Based Care in Kyrgyzstan
More information for prayer at Operation World
"Source: UNICEF, Humanium, SOS Children's Villages International".