Portraits of the world's children - in pictures

A young boy sits in a motorised toy car in Sükhbaatar Square Square, Ulan Bator in Mongolia Photograph: Paula Bronstein/Getty Images

Using materials they have found, Syrian refugee children play at a camp at the Syrian-Turkish border near Azaz Photograph: Maysun/EPA

Children from the Yawalapiti tribe play in the Xingu river in Brazil Photograph: Ueslei Marcelino/Reuters

Marie Ellen da Silva fixes her hair before her ballet lesson in Rio de Janeiro. Ballet Santa Teresa is a non-governmental organisation that gives free ballet classes to children living in areas of social risk, some of whom have suffered domestic violence Photograph: Pilar Olivares/Reuters

A girl stretches on the floor during her lesson at the Ballet Santa Teresa in Rio de Janeiro Photograph: Pilar Olivares/Reuters

A boy plays basketball outside his family's temporary home – a trailer provided by the government – in Missouri, US. Their house was destroyed by the Joplin tornado of May 2011 Photograph: Joe Raedle/Getty Images

Nazareth Gabarri combs her cousin Yasmin's hair as their aunt cleans furniture she is removing from her parents' home in a Spanish Gypsy community in Madrid, the day before it is demolished Photograph: Susana Vera/Reuters

A baby abandoned in a 'baby box' at Joosarang church waits for a medical examination at a children's hospital in Seoul, South Korea Photograph: Kim Hong-Ji/Reuters

A schoolboy looks reluctant to start the new term as he is comforted by his mother in Cuba Photograph: Ramon Espinosa/AP

A Toposa girl wearing traditional dress pans for gold in the Singaita River in Namorinyang, South Sudan Photograph: Adriane Ohanesian/Reuters

Jutarat Sawatpoon from Thailand and Tina Chuang from Taiwan perform a cheer before a game by the Grant-Deuel School Girls' Varsity basketball team in Waverly, South Dakota Photograph: Jim Young/Reuters

A boy dances to celebrate government army FARDC soldiers returning to Goma Photograph: Goran Tomasevic/Reuters

A woman rides a scooter carrying three children on their way to a kindergarten in Ruzhou, a city in Henan central province, China Photograph: Aly Song/Reuters

A child practises Chinese characters during a kindergarten class in Ruzhou, China Photograph: Aly Song/Reuters

Lindzy Earp and Deja Mass sit in the playground at the Hope Gardens Family Centre, a homeless shelter run by Union Rescue Mission on the outskirts of Los Angeles, US Photograph: Lucy Nicholson/Reuters