'More kids want to stay abroad'
2006-11-15 19:46
Addis Ababa - At least 30% of African children would prefer not to live in their country of birth, while most consider themselves happy and optimistic about the future, said a UN report on Wednesday.
Conducted for the UN children's agency Unicef and presented to the Economic Commission of Africa in the Ethiopian capital, the study surveyed 4 000 nine- to 17-year-olds in eight sub-Saharan African countries.
Among its chief findings was that three in 10 African youngsters would rather live abroad, many of them in the United States, Canada and Europe, but also in more developed African nations like South Africa and Kenya.
The desire to leave their country was most pronounced in Malawi and Botswana, where 45% and 38% of children respectively indicated they wanted to live elsewhere.
The report was released in the wake of the international uproar about pop diva Madonna's adoption last month of a Malawian child that sparked debate over the desirability of removing African children from their roots.
Despite the attraction of other nations, the survey found a healthy majority of children to be happy in their current conditions and an even greater number to be optimistic about their futures.
'Happiness means no war'
Sixty-four percent thought their birth country was better off than it was ten years ago and 79% thought they would live better than their parents.
"In the case of Africa, happiness means no war, no shooting around while it could mean for Asian children, to get more gadgets," said Madka Taffese, a researcher with the Unicef affiliate that helped conduct the poll.
Assefa Bequele, the group's executive director, said there was a "correlation between the state of mind of the child and the state of democracy" in the country where they live.
Children in Tanzania were happiest and most confident about the future while the lowest rates were recorded in Angola and Rwanda, countries recovering from long bouts of unrest, she said.
The survey, conducted in Angola, Botswana, Burundi, Ethiopia, Malawi, Somalia and Tanzania, where about 90 million children live, also found an extremely limited knowledge of key issues like HIV/Aids and human rights among youth.
About 57% of children surveyed knew nothing of the HIV/Aids pandemic that is ravaging Africa and the 52% had none or only a slight understanding of their rights, with the most ignorance in Angola, Burundi and Somalia, said the report.
- SAPA