Children in Mozambique

As in other African countries, 52% of the 32.97 million (2022) population in Mozambique is under 18 years of age with 23% of the overall population being aged 10-19 years. They grow up in a country ranked in 183rd place out of 191 countries and territories in 2021 in terms of life expectancy, literacy, access to knowledge and the living standards of a country with a life expectancy of 59.32 years (2021) reflecting the fact that in 2021, 60% of children in Mozambique live in poverty, although that number is projected to decrease to 'just' 48% by 2025. Much of this can be attributed to the civil war from 1977 to 1992 that ravaged the infrastructure and population of the country coupled with flooding, droughts (overall 48.2% of the population is at risk from either floods or droughts) and a largely uneducated workforce who struggle to capitalize on the country's as yet largely untapped oil and gas reserves.

Most children in Mozambique (62.93% in 2020) live in rural areas and will belong to one of the many ethnic groups in the country, the main ones being the Makua, Tsonga, Makonde, Shangaan, Shona, Sena and Ndau. These rural communities rely on traditional and unmodernised subsistence farming to survive with the average farm size being 1.4 hectares and called a 'machamba'. The main crops grown include maize, cassava, rice, sorghum, millet, cowpeas and groundnuts with children eating a staple diet of rice and a paste called 'xima' which is made from sun-dried cereals. In northern Mozambique, beef and fish are also eaten when available with cassava while in areas further from the coast bushmeat including gazelles, monkeys, baboonsand even hippos are often eaten. Despite an abundance of tropical fruits, most children in Mozambique live in food insecurity and are vulnerable to the regular natural disasters that befall the country. As such 43% of children under the age of 5 years suffer from chronic malnutrition and only 13% of children aged 6–23 months receive the minimum recommended diet. It is also estimated that 44% of children in Mozambique suffer from stunting or low height for age. Cont/...

Childrens Lives in Mozambique

Children in Mozambique

Egmont Trust

Working with partners to improve the lives of children affected by HIV & AIDS in Mozambique.
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Anan Clinica

Anan Clinica offer basic health care, education, agriculture and water management.
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Children's Villages

With SOS Children, you can help orphaned and abandoned children when you sponsor a child.
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Mozambique Profile

For information, videos and photos of the African country of Mozambique, check out our profile pages.
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<h1>Children in Mozambique Video</h1>

The dynamics of family life in Mozambique vary depending on their location. In the north, for example, the woman is head of the household and is seen as the decision-maker with possessions cascading down her line of the family. In the south and central areas of the country, a patriarchal system operates with the eldest son becoming head of the family when a father passes away, taking responsibity for the family's well-being although both these systems are becoming less common in urban areas. All tiers of a family are held in high regard within Mozambican families with elders seen as 'beacons of wisdom' and supported by their adult children while children themselves are greatly valued by all generations and are raised to respect their elders, perform household duties and care for their younger siblings. Most women in Mozambique will have 4.78 children (2019) although a fall from 6.7 in 1971. There are approximately 2.1 million orphans in Mozambique with around one third of them having lost their parents to HIV/AIDS with a national prevalence rate of 13.2% in those aged 15 to 49 years making Mozambique among the 10 countries with the highest HIV burden in the world.

Mozambique Classroom Education for children in Mozambique is both free and compulsory from 6 up until the age of 12yrs (with a few having first attended two years at 'jardin infantil') however books and other essentials are not, putting it beyond the reach of many poor families. Although there has been a significant increase in primary school enrollment over the past decade, it is estimated that over one million children are still out of school (more girls than boys) and many who do attend are faced with teachers who have been poorly educated themselves and have to learn in run down schools without the bare essentials of desks or even chairs with many in class sizes of around 90.

The situation is further hampered by the fact that most of the population is of Bantu extraction and neither the students nor their teachers really understand Portuguese in which they are required to be taught. The Ministry of Education in Mozambique reports that less than half of the population finishes primary school and, of those who do finish, only 8% transition to fee paying secondary school where facilities are even thinner on the ground especially in rural areas. Most children, who are around 14 years old when they reach this stage, would prefer to be at work and earning money in any event as few see the general curriculum they are supposed to follow as relevant for the life that lies before them which is mainly working on their parents' subsistence farms. Overall Mozambique's literacy rate is 47% (60% males and 28% females) although both have been improving under the country's 2012–2019 Education Strategic Plan and its 2015–2018 Primary Education Operational Plan.

Most children in Mozambique do not have access to safe water (49%) and fewer have sanitation with a rural open defecation rate of 36%. Although this situation is improving, especially in urban areas, Mozambique simply doesn't have the capital nor resources to build and maintain new water sources relying instead on old, unclean pumps that are often broken without staff to repair them or the spare parts for that work. Most rural children live in homes made from woven straw while others are made from cane and woodsticks with just 10% being constructed of bricks and concrete. Very few have electricity (less than 4%) and health care services are scant, made worse in that many children in Mozambique do not have a birth certificate so find it difficlut to access what limited health and education services that are available. Worse, without official documentation, traffickers exploit Mozambican boys into forced labour on South African farms whilst others, to escape poverty, 'voluntarily' migrate to Eswatini to wash cars, herd livestock, and sell goods while girls are regulary exploited to work in bars, roadside clubs, overnight stopping points, and restaurants along the southern transport corridor that links Maputo with Eswatini and South Africa. The video below shows aspects of life in Mozambique together with projects and programs supporting children in the country.