Evaluating the state of the world's children on the eve of a new millennium, the U.N. agency described the many ways children's lives have been improved over the last 100 years. Smallpox has been eradicated. Widespread iodine supplements have eliminated a major cause of mental retardation.
Most children receive basic education.
Millions of children have been freed from labor. And in a critical indicator of children's well-being, the mortality rate for children under five is declining in developing nations. But the report noted major obstacles to ensuring that all children share in the century's progress. Child laborers number 250 million. And millions are targeted by military actions that are increasingly focused on civilians.