NIGER-EDUCATION-CHILDREN-POPULATION-CENSUS

Aichata Hassan, an internally displaced person (IDP) from Alzou, poses poses for a portrait at the Sakoira school in Niger, on January 25, 2023. - After fleeing the jihadists, Aïchata Hassan never thought she would have to face such a challenge: proving to the world that her 12-year-old daughter Nadia exists administratively so that she can go to school in Niger. Due to the lack of a state representative, an old habit or simply a lack of knowledge of the law, four out of ten children are not registered at birth in Niger, a country where half of the population is under 15 years old. She had sixty days to register each child. But her low income, the distance from the city, and the cost of transportation dissuaded her from doing so. And especially in the village, this piece of paper, the birth certificate, is not very useful, she says. The years have passed. (Photo by OLYMPIA DE MAISMONT / AFP) (Photo by OLYMPIA DE MAISMONT/AFP via Getty Images)