Widows and their children, already among the least fortunate in the world’s social and economic systems, are receiving even more challenges than usual as a result of the emergence of new conflicts and wars, the economic collapse and stagnation, and diseases such as Ebola.  

This important report highlights several facts and mentions, for example, that there are an estimated 258.5 million widows globally with 584.6 million offspring, and that the biggest jump has been in the Middle East and North Africa, where the estimated number of widows rose 24% between 2010 and 2015, partly due to the Syrian war and other conflicts.

The report also finds that 1 in 7 widows globally - 38 million - lives in extreme poverty, and that a significant number of girls are widowed in childhood - a reflection of the prevalence of child marriage in developing countries and the custom of marrying off young girls to much older men.