Multidimensional Child Vulnerability in the Middle East and Eastern Europe

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Monday, July 27, 2026

World Vision International and the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) have developed the Multidimensional Child Vulnerability Index (MCVI), a unique tool to help better track and compare measures of child vulnerability worldwide.

For Middle East and Eastern Europe Region, the MCVI covers 14 countries where World Vision works: Afghanistan, Albania, Armenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Moldova, Occupied Palestinian Territory, Romania, Syria, Türkiye and Ukraine.

Leveraging 36 Indicators for the period of 2021 to 20241, the MCVI measures vulnerability across five core domains: Exposure to Violence and Abuse, Extreme Deprivation, Extreme Discrimination, Environmental Exposure and Resilience of the Social Fabric.

Around the world, and acutely across the Middle East and Eastern Europe, children are growing up amid complex and intersecting risks that undermine their safety, well-being, and long-term development.

The rising levels of deprivation, exposure to violence, and discrimination across parts of the region since 2021 underscore an urgent need for sustained investment, strengthened protection systems, and reinforced resilience at household, community, and institutional levels.

As a child-focused organisation committed to ensuring every girl and boy can experience life in all its fullness, it is essential that we deepen our understanding of the factors that shape children’s vulnerability.

Without a clear, evidence-driven understanding of these multidimensional vulnerabilities, collective efforts to protect and support children risk being unsustainable, fragmented, or misaligned with their most urgent needs. Download this report to learn more about the index and the urgent needs for children.