The study, ‘Making Children Count: Sustainability Reporting across Emerging Asia’, analysed corporate sustainability (ESG) reports of 1,399 listed companies across nine Asian markets – India, Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka.
It found that children remain largely invisible in these reports, despite making up around one in three people across much of the region.
In Vietnam, the study reviewed reports of 109 listed companies across the Ho Chi Minh and Hanoi stock exchanges.
Companies achieved an average score of 57 out of 260, below the regional average of 77.7, indicating that children’s rights remain at an early stage of being integrated into their sustainability efforts.
While 83% of companies reported supporting child-related initiatives at community level, formal corporate commitments to children’s rights have yet to emerge.
Only 37% of companies explicitly committed to addressing child labour risks, while commitments to promoting living wages in supply chains were not reported.
These findings come at a time when Vietnam has mandatory sustainability disclosure requirements and aligns its reporting framework more closely with international sustainability standards.
Silvia Danailov, UNICEF Representative in Vietnam, said: "This study shows that many companies in Vietnam are already investing in children through community programmes.
"The next step is to embed children's rights into the way businesses operate to better manage risks, build investor confidence and contribute to a healthier, more skilled and more resilient workforce.
“UNICEF Vietnam continues working with government, investors and the private sector to make children's rights an integral part of responsible business and sustainability reporting."
Across the reviewed markets, nearly three out of four companies reported human rights commitments and 88% report child-related community activities as corporate philanthropy.
However, only one in 20 companies identified children as stakeholders, and only one in 100 assess their business impacts on children.
The disconnect is particularly stark in sectors tied to some of the region's greatest challenges for children.
Only a small fraction of companies disclosed how they were addressing risks and material impacts on children in climate change, online harms, malnutrition, child labour and the working conditions of parents.
Only 2% mentioned children in climate strategies, fewer than 10% of tech companies reported measures to protect children online, and only 3% of companies committed to implementing protective marketing practices for children.
On child labour, where 72% of companies had commitments, only 2% explained how they remediate cases when these are found, while just 3% supported suppliers to improve practices.
The picture is slightly better on family-friendly workplaces, where reporting is more common, but meaningful commitments on living wages remain rare.
UNICEF called for companies to move from promises to proof by identifying, managing and reporting on impacts on children and aligning philanthropy with children's needs and business impacts.
Governments and policymakers should make child-inclusive business the norm by integrating children's rights into laws, policies and reporting frameworks, it said./.
