Revelation 6:7,8 NCV When the Lamb opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say, "Come!" I looked, and there before me was a pale horse. Its rider was named death, and Hades was following close behind him. They were given power over a fourth of the earth to kill people by war, by starvation, by disease, and by the wild animals of the earth.
One in every eight global births this year has occurred in a conflict zone, according to UNICEF.
The United Nations Children’s Fund said Thursday that more than 16 million children entered the world in a territory marred by conflict in 2015, which amounted to one every two seconds.
The recently published statistics provided an alarming glimpse into the effects that conflict have on children worldwide, as well as the role that violence has played in the ongoing migrant crisis.
UNICEF reported that more than 250 million children — about a ninth of the global child population — are currently living in conflict zones. Another 200,000 sought asylum in the European Union between January and September of this year as their families fled violence.
The world hasn’t seen a level of displacement like this since World War II, UNICEF said.
The Heidelberg Institute for International Conflict Research, which analyzes conflict throughout the globe, reported there were 46 highly violent conflicts in 2014, the most recent year for which data is available. That’s up a tick from 45 in 2013, and far ahead of the 24 such conflicts of 2005.
Some of the notable nations currently experiencing conflict are Afghanistan, Iran, South Sudan, Yemen and Syria, where an ongoing civil war has driven millions of people from their homes. But children born into those and other conflict zones face additional challenges beyond violence.
UNICEF reported that more than 500 million children live in extremely flood-prone areas, while another 160 million live in areas known to experience high or severe droughts. Healthwise, children in conflict zones are more likely to die before the age of 5 and they also have a higher risk of experiencing extreme stress, which can stunt their cognitive and emotional development.
