100 mn children forced to live in streets: UN

The list also includes the whole of the Indian subcontinent, the main southeast Asian nations, and Brazil, Haiti and Mexico in the Americas.

Many such children are among the 300 million who are subjected to exploitation, violence and abuse around the world, according to the same source.

Most street children are to be found in poor countries in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East, although the problem is also acute in parts of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union.

Although the actual numbers of street children in each region are unknown, an idea of the scale of the problem can be gained from social indicators such as primary school enrolment and the prevalence of child labour.

The UNICEF report estimates, for example, that in South Asia, nine percent of girls and 10 percent of boys are not at primary school, while 13 percent of children are obliged to work.

In sub-Saharan Africa no less than 40 per cent of girls and 36 per cent of boys are not enrolled in primary school. In the same region, 35 per cent of children aged between five and 14 years old are drafted wholly or partially into the labour force, the report estimates.