2.5 mln children live in Kyrgyzstan

Bishkek, June 1, 2020 / Kabar /. Children's Day, on the first day of summer, has been celebrating around the world since 1950. It reminds society of the need to protect the rights, life and health of the child.

According to data of the National Statistics Committee, at the beginning of 2020, 2 million 456 thousand children under the age of 18 lived in Kyrgyzstan, of which more than half (51%) were boys. Compared with the beginning of 2019, the number of children increased by 75 thousand, or 3%.

Of the total number of children at the beginning of this year:

45% - children under the age of 7 years (1 million 115 thousand people);

42% - aged 7-14 years (1 million 30 thousand people);

13% are adolescents aged 15-17 years (311 thousand people).

The vast majority of children (68%) live in rural areas.

In 2019, about 174 thousand children were born, of which 89 thousand boys and 85 thousand girls, i.e. more boys are born than girls.

About a quarter of newborns (22% in 2019) are children of mothers who are not married. However, it in recent years, marriages committed only according to Muslim rites have become widespread. Therefore, some of the children born out of legal marriage actually have both parents, while of the number of registered newborns, 51% are registered at the joint request of the parents, and 49% only at the request of the mothers and, most likely, these children will be raised in a family without a father.

In order to reduce the incidence of infectious diseases in the country, measures are being taken to carry out preventive vaccinations. In 2019, the percentage of children under one year of age vaccinated against tuberculosis was 96.4%, against pertussis, diphtheria and tetanus - 94.3%, measles, mumps and rubella - 97.2%.

At the end of 2019, there were more than 96 thousand socially vulnerable, dysfunctional, and difficult families with about 309 thousand children in Kyrgyzstan.

The country is carrying out systematic work to realize the right to life and bring up in a family of children who have lost parental care.