ABSTRACT
The following countries were selected for this study: Nicaragua, Bolivia, Burkina Faso, Tanzania, India, and Vietnam. There is a wide disparity in socioeconomic levels between these countries, which is made clear by table 2.1, in which a number of indices relating to the position of children in these countries are included. Burkina Faso is situated at one extreme of the scale (with high illiteracy, high child mortality, and high indices of child labour); Vietnam, despite a low GNP, is situated at the other extreme with a low fertility rate, a nearly perfect literacy rate, a reasonably low child labour rate, and a low infant mortality rate.
