Roathy, 8, Cambodia. Roathy lives with his family on a rubbish tip in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. The slum is home to an estimated five thousand people who all pay rent to live on the dump. Roathy’s bed is made of old tyres and rubbish. Everyday at 6am Roathy joins hundreds of other children who are given a shower and breakfast at a local charity centre, which is often the only meal of the day. The 8-year-old spends his day collecting cans and plastic for his family to sell to a local recycling company.

Ahkôhxet, 8, Brazil Ahkôhxet is a member of the Kraho tribe, who live in the basin of the river Amazon. There are less than 2, 000 members of her tribe and The Kraho people believe that the sun and moon were creators of the universe. The red paint on Ahkôhxet’s chest is from one of his tribe’s rituals. The tribe is almost completely self-sufficient from the outside world, growing and hunting their own food.

Alex, 9, Rio de Janeiro Alex spends his time begging on the city streets and does not attend school. Most of the time he sleeps outside, on an empty bench or discarded sofa if he can find one – otherwise on the cement. Although the nine-year-old still speaks to his family, since living on the streets of Rio Alex has reportedly become addicted to sniffing glue.

Alyssa, 8, Harlan County, Kentucky Alyssa lives with her parents in Kentucky. Their small, dilapidated home is heated only by a wooden stove.

Anonymous, 9, Ivory Coast This 9-year-old boy is an orphan who did not want to reveal his name. He is a Liberian refugee escaping the war-torn nation and for now settles on the Ivory Coast. He goes to a school for ex-child soldiers and lives in a shack alongside other students from his school.

Bikram, 9, Melamchi, Nepal Nine-year-old Bikram is an orphan who lives with his grandparents, aunt, uncle and two cousins in a stone hut in the rural mountains of Nepal. His parents were killed during Nepal’s civil war.

Bilal, 6, the West Bank Bilal and his family are nomadic Bedouin Arabs. Their home is a one-roomed shack in Wadi Abu Hindi on the West Bank.

Delanie, 9, New Jersey Nine-year-old Delanie lives with her parents and younger brother and sister in a large house in New Jersey. This wannabe fashion designer love to shop and pick out her outfits. Like many children in the West she hates schoolwork.

Dong, 9, Yunnan, China Dong lives in the country province of Yunnan in China and shares a room with his sister and parents. His family own just enough land to grow their own rice and sugar cane. When he grows up he would like to be a police officer.

Douha, 10, the West Bank Douha lives in a Palestinian refugee camp in Hebron with her parents and 11 siblings. Her brother Mohammed (pictured in the poster) killed himself and 23 civilians in a suicide-bomb attack against the Israelis in 1996.

Indira, 7, Katmandu, Nepal Indira lives in a one room house and sleeps on a mattress on the floor with her brother and sister. Since the age of three Indira has worked at the local granite quarry.

Jaime, 9, New York City Jaime lives in a top-floor apartment on Fifth Avenue. His parents also own luxury homes in Spain and in the Hamptons. The nine-year-old attends a very expensive private school in his spare time the cello player likes to study his finances on the Citibank website. Jamie hopes to one day become a lawyer like his father.

Jasmine, 4, Kentucky Jasmine or ‘Jazzy’, as she likes to be called, lives in a big house in with her parents and three brothers in rural Kentucky. Her bedroom is adorned with crowns and ribbons which she has won at the pageants she enters every weekend. The beauty queens parents thousands of dollars on her hobby which takes up all of her spare time. Jazzy loves being treated like a princess, having her hair done and wearing pretty clothes. When she grows up she wants to be a rock star.

Joey, 11, Kentucky As a keen hunter Joey, 11, regularly goes shooting with his father. He owns two shotguns and a crossbow and killed his first deer at age 7. Joey thinks that animals should not be shot for fun but used for food and clothing.

Justin, 8, New Jersey Justin is a sports fan who has decorated his room accordingly. He plays NFL, basketball and baseball, but American football is his favourite. He lives with his family in a four-bedroom house and catches the neighbourhood bus to school. One day Justin hopes to become the mayor of New Jersey.

Kaya, 4, Tokyo Four-year-old Kaya is the apple of her mother’s eye. Her bedroom is filled with clothes and dolls and her mum usually makes about three new dresses for her each month. She wants to be a cartoonist when she grows up.

Lamine, 12, Senegal Lamine wakes up at dawn each morning to work on the farm at his school. The 12-year-old is a pupil at the Bounkiling village Koranic school, where no girls are allowed.

Nantio, 15, Kenya Nantio is a member of the Rendille tribe and lives in a tent-like dome made from animal hides in Northern Kenya. She has two brothers and two sisters.

Prena, 14, Katmandu, Nepal Prena’s room is a tiny, cell-like space at the top of the house where she is employed as a domestic worker. She begins work at 5am and finishes after six and makes less than $10 month, all of which she sends to her family who have eight other children. Her three days at school are the biggest highlight in her life and she hopes to one day become a doctor.

Risa, 15, Kyoto, Japan Risa is a ‘maiko’ or a geisha in training. She lives with 13 other women in a teahouse and she and five others sleep in a room that is also used as a dining room.

Romanian boy, 4, Rome This Romanian boy sleeps on a mattress in a field on the fringes of Rome. The boy and his family came from Romania by bus and began living in a tent. Recently police threw them out of their tent for trespassing and now all the family has to sleep on is an old mattress in the open air. The boy spends his days waiting by the road while his parents earn money cleaning car windscreens at traffic lights. No one in his family has ever attended school.

Ryuta, 10, Tokyo Ryuta is the envy of all the children at his school as he is a champion sumo wrestler – he’s never lost a match. The ten-year-old eats three large meal a day to maintain his wrestling weight and also enjoys being a scout.

Thais, 11, Rio de Janeiro Thais lives in Rio’s infamous City of God slum. The 11-year-old shares a bedroom with her sister in her family’s flat. She’s a big fan of Brazilian pop singer, Felipe Dylon, and dreams of becoming a model, like Gisele Bundchen.

Tristan, 7, New York Tristan lives with his creative parents in Manhattan. Tristan’s film maker father and his pop culture writer mother send the seven-year-old to an Eco-School where no religious holidays are observed. When he grows up, he wants to become an inventor of marmalade.

Tzvika, 9, West Bank Tzvika lives on the West Bank in a secure community of 36,000 Orthodox Jews in an Israeli settlement. Tzvika shares his sparsely decorated room with his two brothers. There are four kids in his family which is an unusually low number of children in the gated community where the average family has nine kids. Despite living a meagre two-minute walk away, the nine-year-old is taken by car every day. Religion is the most important subject at school and Tzvika wants to be a rabbi when he grows up.