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FRAME I: GENERAL OVERVIEW
CAMBODIA BACKGROUND INFORMATION & STATISTICS
In order to support the analysis of the primary data derived from the snapshot and
question-naire survey of Cambodian street children/youth, there is a need to investigate
the broader context of issues impacting on the street living/working population so as
to understand and analyse the survey findings of the SCP 2009. Multiple areas of
concern prove relevant in this respect and can be divided into direct and indirect causes
influencing the street children/youth population 12 . Direct causes for why a child ends
up on the street include: substance abuse, neglect, family breakdown, child abuse etc.
Indirect causes are of more structural nature such as poverty, unplanned migration, lack
of access to education etc. Moreover, it is also necessary to consider local complexities
of both economic and political character that indirectly has an impact on the children/
youth addressed in this profile. Hence, the location specific information will be presented
in the analysis of the questionnaire survey in Frame III. The content of the chapter is
structured as a synthesis of secondary data sources aiming to identify tendencies of
the Cambodian population in general, as well as direct and indirect causes possibly
impacting on the street children/youth population.
General Overview of Cambodia
Cambodia, with a total population of 14.6 million, has a remarkably young demographic
struc-ture with 41.6 percent of the population being under 18 years of age 13 . A
combination of severe decimation of the population during nearly three decades of war
and civil conflict, a post-war boom and the low average life expectancy 14 , are reasons
behind the unbalanced demography. Adding to this, an annual population growth of
1.75 percent 15 (higher than that of Southeast Asia as a whole 16 ) and a decline in early
mortality keeps this population disparity at quo.
Regarding poverty, there is statistical consensus indicating that around 30-35 percent
of the population have expenditure levels below the income poverty line, struggling
CSCN
CSCN Street Children Profile 2009
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