Billion kids in severe poverty.

LONDON -- A new UNICEF sponsored report has found that over one billion children suffer the severe effects of poverty.

Using a new methodology, the survey measures the extent of child poverty, in terms not only of income, but of deprivation of basic human rights such as shelter, food, water, sanitation, health, education and information.

The data is published in a new UNICEF commissioned report entitled, Child Poverty in the Developing World that was launched today at the House of Commons in London. The research team included Dave Gordon of the Centre for International Poverty Research at the University of Bristol and Peter Townsend of the London School of Economics.

The results of the study show:

* One child of every three lives in a dwelling with more than five people per room, or with a mud floor;

* Nearly 20% of the world's children do not have safe water sources or have more than a 15-minute walk to water;

* Over 15% of children under five in the developing world are severely malnourished. In South Asia alone, more than 90 million children go hungry every day;

* 134 million children between the ages of 7 to 18 have never been to school;

* Girls are more likely to go without schooling than boys. In the Middle East and North Africa, in particular, girls are three times more likely than boys to have never attended to school.

Child prostitution is prevalent along the German-Czech border. Cathrin Schauer, a social worker at the German agency KARO came to this conclusion after interviewing 500 child prostitutes. Local Czech officials and national media have called Shauer's report a publicity stunt. The Czech Republic has been subject to considerable criticism because of the presence of a large number of prostitutes, including children, brought in under questionable conditions from other parts of Eastern Europe.