We've included below some useful statistics regarding the countries where you can sponsor a child.  These figures were taken from two recent UNICEF reports on the state of Children's health and NationMaster (see Additional Info page).  IMR U5 per 1000 births is the infant mortality rate for under 5's.  In other words, the number of children in every 1000 who die before their 5th birthday.  If this statistic alone isn't enough to convince you to become a sponsor, then we don't know what will?!

The most important column is the last one - it shows which charities work in that country, and links to the relevant page on their website. 

To put these statistics in perspective, the UK's figures are below:

Population (millions)	Per capita income $	Life expectancy years	Access to water % of pop.	Access to sanitation % of pop.	IMR U5 per 1000 births
60.0	28,350	79	100	100	6

Southern Africa has always been a very poor part of the world, and these figures prove it.  Income is tiny, IMR is approximately 1 in 5 in most countries and access to water and sanitation is as low as 1 in 16.  But perhaps the most horrific statistic is that in 5 of these countries, life expectancy is in the 30's, less than half that of the UK's.

Western Africa is also a historically poor region.  Income is miniscule, and the IMR is approximately 1 in 4 in many countries.  Access to sanitation is particularly poor, in many countries it's 1 in 8 or less. 

In Asia it's the sheer scale of the problem that's bewildering.  Everyone knows that China and India are the 2 most populous countries in the world, but it's not so widely known that countries like Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan and even the Philippines and Vietnam have populations well in excess of the UK's.  As an example, in China 1 in 4 are without access to water.  This equates to 326m people, the same as the population of the UK, Ireland, France, Spain, Germany, Italy and Australia combined.  And the number of Chinese without access to sanitation is more than double this number!

In Central America, access to sanitation is as low as 1 in 3, and IMR as high as 1 in 8.

Despite being in the so called "developed" world, these eastern European countries still have an IMR up to 5 times worse than that in the UK, and not everyone has access to water or sanitation.

Only half of Brazil's 178m people have access to sanitation.  How can that be?

"The top 3 billionaires in the world have assets greater than the combined GDP of all the 48 least developed countries and their 600 million population"

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