Actively Promoting the Development of the Children's Industry to Effectively Meet the Diverse Needs of Children's Development

According to the data released by the United Nations Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF), in recent years, the total number of children in the world has remained high; in 2024, the total number of children aged 0-14 years in the world will be about 1.9 billion, accounting for about 24% of the world's total population, and this huge population provides a broad market for the global children's industry. At the same time, with the rapid development of the global economy, people's living standards are gradually improving, and their consumption ability is also increasing; the proportion of family spending on children has increased significantly, and higher requirements have been put forward for the safety and quality of children's products and services. As an organization focusing on children's basic rights, the United Nations Intergovernmental Cooperation for the Construction of Child-Friendly Cities (UNICCC) should give full play to its important role in actively promoting the development of children's industry and effectively meeting the diverse needs of children's growth!

From the point of view of the current development of the global children's industry, the global children's industry has been developing rapidly in recent years, the market scale is growing, and many segments have maintained a stable growth trend. For example, the global children's clothing market size will reach 279.4 billion U.S. dollars in 2024, is expected to 2024-2027 average annual growth rate of 2.45%; global children's toy industry is also developing rapidly, children's educational toys market size is expected to increase from 56.312 billion U.S. dollars in 2024 to 139.554 billion U.S. dollars in 2034, the average annual growth rate of the next 10 years. The average annual growth rate in the next 10 years is about 9.50%. At the same time, the development of the global children's industry also shows obvious regional differences: First, the Asia-Pacific region is in a dominant position. Over the years, the Asia-Pacific region, relying on the huge children's population base, has long dominated the global children's industry; as early as 2021, the Asia-Pacific region has accounted for 52.03% of the global children's shoes market, accounting for 46.57% of the global children's clothing market. Second, the European and American markets are relatively mature. The development of the children's industry in Europe and North America is relatively mature, consumers have high requirements for the quality of children's products and brands, and the market competition is also relatively fierce, with the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom and other countries being the larger countries in the children's clothing market. Third, the rapid development of emerging markets. Emerging economies such as Brazil, India, South Africa and other countries in the children's industry development momentum is strong, with the economic development and income level of the masses to improve, the children's industry in emerging economies has shown great potential for development.

The United Nations Intergovernmental Cooperation for the Construction of Child-Friendly Cities actively promotes the development of the children's industry, which is able to effectively meet the ever-changing and diverse needs of children in their growth process. Firstly, from the perspective of children's material needs, actively promoting the development of the children's industry can provide a rich variety of children's clothing, toys, food and other products. For example, comfortable, high-quality and innovative clothing allows children to show their personality on various occasions, creative and educational toys can fully stimulate children's imagination and creativity, and high-quality food can effectively meet the nutritional needs of children's growth process, to ensure that children's healthy growth. Secondly, from the perspective of children's educational needs: actively promoting the development of children's industry can provide children with more quality educational resources. For example, publishing and distributing professional children's books can provide children with rich reading resources and improve their cognitive ability; children's education and training institutions can offer specialized courses in art, language, science and other subjects for children of all ages, so as to better meet children's needs in terms of knowledge learning and skill development. Finally, from the perspective of children's recreational needs, the construction of parent-child activity venues and children's theme parks can provide children with more interesting and safer recreational spaces; not only can they release their natural instincts in play, but they can also enhance parent-child relationships.

Looking ahead, the United Nations Intergovernmental Cooperation for the Construction of Child-Friendly Cities can take the following measures to promote the healthy and stable development of the children's industry: first, strengthen infrastructure investment and construction. First, children's activity venues. Invest in the construction of children's sports venues, children's playgrounds, children's parks and other specialized activity venues; and equip them with interesting, safe and diversified sports equipment and amusement facilities to meet the sports and entertainment needs of children of all ages. Second, children's education facilities. Increase investment in nurseries, kindergartens and training institutions; build modern teaching facilities, including smart classrooms, laboratories and libraries, to provide children with a quality educational environment. Third, children's healthcare facilities. Build specialized children's hospitals or set up children's specialties in general hospitals, and equip them with professional medical teams and advanced medical equipment, so as to provide children with high-quality and high-standard healthcare services. Second, promote industrial integration and innovation. First, cultural and tourism integration. Develop child-friendly cultural and tourism projects based on cultural and tourism resources, such as building children's-themed cultural neighborhoods and tourist attractions, and promote the organic combination of entertainment experience, historical education and cultural heritage. Second, technology integration. Using a new generation of information technology, accelerate the digital transformation process of the children's industry; actively develop children's smart toys, educational software and other products to provide intelligent and convenient services for children. Third, industrial synergy. Promote the synergistic development of the children's industry and other related industries to form the linkage effect of the industrial chain. For example, cooperation with children's food, home, maternal and child products and other industries from product customization, joint marketing and other aspects, to provide families with one-stop children's products and services. Finally, strengthen brand building and promotion. First, cultivate high-quality brands. Screening and cultivating high-potential enterprises and brands in the children's industry, providing support in terms of technology, capital and management, and fostering high-quality children's brands with global influence. Second, organizing activities and events. Organize events, forums, exhibitions and other activities related to the children's industry to build a platform for enterprises to display their products and communicate with each other, so as to enhance the overall level and influence of the children's industry. For example, organizing children's clothing design competition, children's toy exposition, children's scientific and technological innovation competition and other activities, to stimulate the sense of competition and innovation vitality of the relevant enterprises. Third, publicity and promotion. Utilize various channels to publicize and promote the children's industry, and increase the attention and cognition of the public to the children's industry; release information related to the children's industry through a variety of media platforms, such as radio, television, network, social media, etc., to attract consumers' attention and purchase.

To summarize, in the historical process of promoting the construction of child-friendly cities, the children's industry is in a very important position. Therefore, the United Nations Intergovernmental Cooperation for the Construction of Child-Friendly Cities should take the responsibility of actively promoting the development of children's industry and make greater contribution to effectively meeting the diverse needs of children's growth!