The number of neglected children is going up, and government programs have done little to help, according to an official at the Social Affairs Ministry.

The number of poor and abandoned children is increasing from year to year because people at the bottom of the economic ladder are worse off than before, said the ministry's director for social services, Harry Hikmat.

"The overall poverty rate reportedly dropping from year to year but the very poor segment of the population is living in increasingly dire economic conditions," he explained. He added that government programs focused on orphanage care have "done little to mitigate the problem."

According to the Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS), 6.5 percent of children between 0 and 18 years old were neglected in 2005. That's an increase of 1.2 percent over the 2000 rate.

Social Affairs Minister Bachtiar Chamsyah said Wednesday that he, too, had noticed the increase with great concern.