The South African Child Gauge 2017 has shown that the majority of children remain marginalised, excluded and exposed to excessive levels of violence.
The University of Cape Town’s Children’s Institute officially released the findings on Tuesday.
The report shows that most children in the country are surviving but many are failing to thrive and achieve their full potential.
The report says between 2003 and 2015 the number of children living below the poverty line fell from 79% to 62%.
Researcher in the UCT’s Childrens Institute, Lucy Jamieson says violence against children cost the country an estimated R239 billion in 2015.
“If you want to increase human capital to reduce unemployment, poverty and inequality you need to start by investing in children from the moment they are conceived right through and government needs to support that,” says Jamieson.
