GENEVA - A United Nations agency says Canada has broken a promise to help end child poverty.

In a report released Tuesday, the United Nations Children's Fund ranks Canada 19th out of 26 industrialized countries on how well they're tackling the problem.

In 1990, Canada pledged to eliminate child poverty by 2000. But the decline of 0.4 per cent has been marginal, said a spokesperson for UNICEF.

A spokesperson for UNICEF Canada said Canada did manage to decrease the rate, but more must be done.

"Children are the most vulnerable in society today. They don't vote and really need to be prioritized," said Barbara Strang.

The report, Child Poverty in Rich Countries 2005, suggests up to 50 million children may be growing up poor in some of the world's richest countries.

Denmark and Finland are doing the best to beat the problem, the report says, with child poverty rates of less than three per cent.

Canada's rate is 14.9 per cent, while the United States and Mexico round out the bottom of the list at 21.9 per cent and 27.7 per cent.