We must not forget the original goals of the transition - to raise the standard of living and to develop humane and democratic societies

Unicef executive director Carol Bellamy

The report says they are existing on less than $2.15 a day - while another 60 million children and young people are living on less than $4.30.

The report looking at the situation in these regions in the 10 years since the Soviet collapse warns that the task of building humane societies has been neglected in the rush for economic growth.

"Fundamental freedoms have been recognised in most countries - the right to vote, to express opinion, to use one's own initiative and enterprise. That is undeniably a source of satisfaction," said Unicef executive director Carol Bellamy.

Transition pain

18m children in poverty 1.5m children in public care 9m out of school Under-fives drop by one third Widespread child malnourishment in Albania, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan

"But we must not forget the original goals of the transition - to raise the standard of living and to develop humane and democratic societies. These goals need to be reaffirmed."

Unicef says the report - called Decade of Transition, and published in Geneva - is the first comprehensive review of the social effects brought about by a decade of change in 27 countries with a collective population of 400 million, 108 million of them young people.

Tuberculosis

It says increasing numbers of children are living in institutions or being put up for adoption.

In Albania one child in three is malnourished

There were 1.5 million children in out-of-home care at the end of the 1990s, about 150,000 more than at the start of the decade, with the sharpest increase in the Baltic states.

The report finds growing disparities in terms of health.

In Russia and Ukraine, for example, one child in seven is undernourished, while in Albania, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan the figure rises to one in three.

The report also says Aids cases are on the rise, and that instances of tuberculosis have risen by 50% in poorer countries.

Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Romania are the worst affected by tuberculosis, while one 1999 study found that Estonia had the highest incidence of drug-resistant tuberculosis in the world.

On Wednesday a Unaids report said Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union had the world's fastest growing rates of HIV infection.

Lack of education

The report also reveals falling educational standards.

Millions of children have to survive on less than $2.15 a day

In Central Asian countries less than half of 15-to-18-year-olds now attend secondary school. Ten years ago more than two-thirds attended.

Conflict has had a deleterious effect on the region, with 2.2 million people registered as internally displaced by late 2000, and almost one million as refugees.

The total number of children in the region - 108 million - is about 13% fewer than in 1989, while the number of children aged under five fell by more than a third, due to a sharp drop in births.

Marriage rates also fell by a third on average.

One positive finding from the report though is that levels of child mortality are beginning to fall in some of the countries assessed.

Publishing the report, Unicef calls for a sustained attack on child poverty.

It also calls for regular and independent inspection of institutional childcare facilities and a greater commitment to family support services.