Unicef Report On Children's Well-being

[Addie]

This report and impression it portrays is nothing short of tragic.

 

Source

 

Unicef report: Key points at-a-glance

The UK has come bottom of a Unicef league table for child well-being across 21 industrialised countries.

The study looked at a total of 40 indicators in six categories. Here is a summary of some of the report's key findings.

 

REPORT SUMMARY

 

European countries dominate the top half of the overall league table, with the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark and Finland claiming the top four places.

 

The UK and United States are in the bottom third of the rankings for five of the six categories covered. The six categories are material well-being, family and peer relationships, health and safety, behaviour and risks, and children's own sense of well-being (educational and subjective).

 

No country features in the top third of the rankings for all six dimensions of child well-being, although the Netherlands and Sweden come close to achieving this.

 

MATERIAL WELL-BEING

 

Child poverty remains above the 15% mark in the three southern European countries (Portugal, Spain, Italy) and in three Anglophone countries (the US, the UK, and Ireland).

 

There is no obvious relationship between levels of child well-being and GDP per capita. The Czech Republic, for example, achieves a higher overall rank for child well-being than several much wealthier countries.

 

A total of nine countries - all in northern Europe - have brought child poverty rates below 10%.

 

FAMILY AND PEER RELATIONSHIPS

 

Approximately 80% of children in the countries under review are living with both parents. This ranges from more than 90% in Greece and Italy to less than 70% in the UK and 60% in the US.

 

Even in the lowest ranked countries, almost two-thirds of children still regularly eat the main meal of the day with their families, with France and Italy maintaining the tradition most of all.

 

HEALTH AND SAFETY

 

Fewer than one in every 10,000 young people die before the age of 19 as a result of accident, murder, suicide or violence.

 

European countries occupy the top half of the report's child health and safety table, with the top five places claimed by the four Nordic countries and the Netherlands.

 

Infant mortality rates range from under 3% per 1,000 births in Iceland and Japan, to over 6% per 1,000 in Hungary, Poland and the US.

 

BEHAVIOUR AND RISKS

 

The overall OECD league table of young people's risk behaviours sees the UK at the foot of the rankings by "a considerable distance".

 

Risk behaviours considered in the study include smoking, being drunk, using cannabis, fighting and bullying, and sexual behaviour.

 

Only about a third of young people eat fruit daily.

 

Only about a third of young people exercise for an hour or more on five or more days a week - youths take most exercise in Ireland, Canada and the US, and the least in Belgium and France.

 

EDUCATIONAL WELL-BEING

 

Finland, Canada, Australia, and Japan head this particular table in the report.

 

The UK is rated in the bottom third of the table for educational well-being.

 

Four southern European countries - Greece, Italy, Spain and Portugal - occupy the bottom four places.

 

SUBJECTIVE WELL-BEING

Children's subjective sense of well-being appears to be markedly higher in the Netherlands, Spain, and Greece and markedly lower in Poland and the UK.

 

Approximately 80% of young people consider their health to be good or excellent in every OECD country except the UK.

 

The Netherlands, Norway and Austria, are at the head of the table with over a third of their schoolchildren admitting to "liking school a lot".

[VikingRaider]

As the UK has a society in total meltdown is it any great surprise ?

[Lonan3]

The UK Govt says:

Welfare Reform Minister Jim Murphy said the Unicef study was an "historic" report, which used some data which was now out of date.

"It looks at some information and analysis from perhaps six, seven, eight years ago," he told the BBC's Newsnight. "Some of the information really is out of date in that sense.

"If you look at the teenage pregnancies issue, for example, we're now 20 years low on teenage pregnancy levels, and on homelessness as well there's been real progress there as well - a 25-year low in terms of new homelessness, so there's an awful lot we have achieved."

 

The Children's Society says:

 

"We simply cannot ignore these shocking findings. Unicef's report is a wake-up call to the fact that, despite being a rich country, the UK is failing children and young people in a number of crucial ways."

 

The Children's Commissioner for England, Professor Sir Al Aynsley-Green says:

 

"It's very much in line with what children and young people are telling me about their lives today, and I think the shocking conclusion is that as a nation we have been failing our children and young people."

 

Colette Marshall, UK director of Save the Children, says:

 

"This report shows clearly that despite the UK's wealth, we are failing to give children the best possible start in life. The UK government is not investing enough in the well-being of children, especially to combat poverty and deprivation."

 

And, finally, A spokeswoman for the government said it regarded the improvement of the life of British children as a matter of particular importance. "Nobody can dispute that improving children's well-being is a real priority for this government," she said.

 

Ah... so that's alright, then!

[Albert Tatlock]

I am not surprised by this report.

 

Given such high taxes, high house prices, high utility bills etc. it is the pond life that are being paid in benefits to breed - and sensible people can't afford to have children anymore. This report is also the consequences of forcing kids to roam the concrete (providing no facilities for them), no discipline, high levels of divorce, teenage pregnancies, messing around too much with the education system etc. etc. etc. etc. etc.

 

When you actually speak to people and the reasons they live on the island, this report sums it up.

 

The UK has gone to the dogs in a single generation, by getting it's priorities completely reversed and spending its money in many of the wrong places. The UK is often very arrogant about it's European neighbours, but clearly there is a lot to be learned from them.

[nessa]

The UK Govt says:

Welfare Reform Minister Jim Murphy said the Unicef study was an "historic" report, which used some data which was now out of date.

"It looks at some information and analysis from perhaps six, seven, eight years ago," he told the BBC's Newsnight. "Some of the information really is out of date in that sense.

"If you look at the teenage pregnancies issue, for example, we're now 20 years low on teenage pregnancy levels, and on homelessness as well there's been real progress there as well - a 25-year low in terms of new homelessness, so there's an awful lot we have achieved."

 

uuuuuummm gotta say I disagree with this apparent observation on historical data from Mr Jim Murphy sadly

 

I would worry that in the past seven years that some things have got worse

 

Mind you I will say that some of my current POV concerns various recent employment, welfare or some repatriation policies [and realities] which are now perhaps being masked in different ways i.e. when I compare my thinking today in 2007 with some memories from 2001 etc Guess that unless a person is forced to walk that nightmare walk themselves in some UK spaces ... well I guess denial or minimisation and some measuring tools can indeed work very effectively then i.e. whenever progress is being proclaimed in some circles perhaps??

 

Sadly though I would guess that these types of issues with the wellbeing or poverty of children is becoming more difficult in many other countires too though Albert - but I certainly don't think benefits are being paid to breed *pondlife* in the UK or elsewhere sadly But thats a whole different difficult topic imho ....

[Karellen]

This report was presented on R4 this morning, accompanied by interviews from a Dutch child and an English child. The Dutch child was more coherent speaking in (for him) a foreign language than was the English child speaking in her own language. Maybe they were chosen to illustrate the point, but I wonder why the quality of education is so much better in Holland than in England? Is it only down to the Government's cash investment, or is there something more fundamental about the desire for education and self-betterment and self-contentment across the wider Dutch population? Are children encouraged to study more, at the expense of playing computer games? Is there a better social network for children with less peer presure to be anti-social?

[Mutley]

Nothing to do with Governments and everything to do with parenting skills and responsibility IMHO. Typical English attitude to offload the blame to anyone and everyone else. The UK is slowly evolving into the US in that respect.

 

Typos...

[Millman]

Oh it's so easy to concentrate on the negatives isn't it. Here are a few facts where the British came out top:

 

- British children are top of the shortest attention span league.

- They are top of the ability to play Grand Theft Auto on the PS2 league.

- The girls are top of the Girls Aloud look a likey league (special mention to Liverpool here).

- They are the top of the number of mars bars consumed league.

- They are top of the "Isn't Winston Churchill the dog in those insurance adverts" educational league.

- They can use the fewest letters to make words up and therefore top the texting speed league.

- The girls top the least material used in their outfits league.

- They top the league of time taken to consume WKD and start a fight at the weekend.

- They top the maximum width of tailpipes fitted to a Corsa league.

- They top the league of knowledge of what government handouts they are entitled to.

 

See many reasons to congratulate of your young ones, that is if you actually knew where they are or if you could actually give a toss.

 

Oh and don't try and pretend that kids over here are so much better than the UK, they may have more cash on the whole but they are still the same mindless Chavs.

[Karellen]

Nothing to do with Governments and everything to do with parenting skills and responsibility IMHO. Typical English attitude to offload the blame to anyone and everyone else. The UK is slowly evolving into the US in that respect.

 

 

I agree, but why is that? In reality what can be done to improve parenting skills and change the mindset of a substantial part of a nation? I believe that the British Isles should be aligned more closely to Europen influences and cultures, but the truth (regrettably) is that culturally England is closer to the US than to Holland, and the distinct lack of emphasis on European languages in our schools only helps to widen the divide.

[3v0]

I am not surprised by this report.

 

Given such high taxes, high house prices, high utility bills etc. it is the pond life that are being paid in benefits to breed - and sensible people can't afford to have children anymore. This report is also the consequences of forcing kids to roam the concrete (providing no facilities for them), no discipline, high levels of divorce, teenage pregnancies, messing around too much with the education system etc. etc. etc. etc. etc.

 

When you actually speak to people and the reasons they live on the island, this report sums it up.

 

The UK has gone to the dogs in a single generation, by getting it's priorities completely reversed and spending its money in many of the wrong places. The UK is often very arrogant about it's European neighbours, but clearly there is a lot to be learned from them.

 

I have had this discussion with "'er indoors" about this, we are attempting to do things "the right way" i.e buy a house and get married, then having kids when we earn enough to support it all, it is alot of work and it's probably going to be another 5 years before it is viable, it would be alot easier to pop out a few sprogs when we know for a fact we can't afford it and just let the government look after us! How much are they worth about £50 a week each?!

[Millman]

That's the spirit 3v0 but don't forget to demand a bigger council house after ever second sprog.

[Albert Tatlock]

Nothing to do with Governments and everything to do with parenting skills and responsibility IMHO. Typical English attitude to offload the blame to anyone and everyone else. The UK is slowly evolving into the US in that respect.

 

Typos...

Whilst I agree that the government has no business in family life, it certainly has a responsibility for education. Education is not just about maths and English etc. it is also about things like preparing for marriage, how to cook and eat properly, how to behave in public, community values, work ethics, managing finances etc. Many of these skills are demonstrably not being passed from many parents to their children, and many parents who want to pass these values are often too busy working and trying to pay the mortgage, tax and other bills and working stupid hours.

 

The government is currently spending a fortune, often on the family, but it's all about when things have gone wrong e.g. crime, social services, prisons, divorce, teenage pregnancies etc. There is relatively very little money spent on helping to prevent these things. IMHO, that doesn't require more money in the long term, it actually requires less overall.

 

More effort from any government on policies that improve quality of life and aid to maintain stable relationships, can only support families and children. More facilities for children, instead of letting them roam the streets like some cat put out for the night, are examples of solutions that will pay for themselves within a few years.

 

The government do have responsibilities to put things right in many areas, as they are the ones that have often legislated various hare-brained schemes which have done nothing but make family life far more difficult in the UK, including making it nearly impossible for young people starting work at the moment to even contemplate getting their own roof over their head, never mind afford to bring up children as well.

[3v0]

That's the spirit 3v0 but don't forget to demand a bigger council house after ever second sprog.

 

Of course!

[Pragmatopian]

Nothing to do with Governments and everything to do with parenting skills and responsibility IMHO. Typical English attitude to offload the blame to anyone and everyone else. The UK is slowly evolving into the US in that respect.

 

Typos...

 

I would have to agree... parents are increasingly poor role models. Children spend far less time with their parents, extended families or fully engaged in their communities. They are indulged as those of earlier generations were not with 'stuff' without any expectation that they should earn it. They come to aspire only to the basest of things, rather than to be respected in their community, to excel in their work or in the arts or to put effort into anything. What else can we expect when they live in a society that venerates nobodies?

 

This phenomenon extends well beyond the English-speaking world: although perhaps it is not as developed elsewhere, it is quickly spreading. I should say that there is still a sizable minority of people who buck the trend and aspire to continual personal growth and responsibility towards one another. It is my hope that the majority of children will aspire to and work hard to become great scientists, engineers, innovators, artists, sportspeople... really just to develop a passion for life and a sense of responsibility to use it to its fullest. I truly believe that each of us has the capacity to make a positive difference in the world.

[P.K.]

This report was presented on R4 this morning

I heard on R4 one of the "main" contributers to this report. He stated that we are now seeing the results of the cutting back on welfare and social services that took place mainly between 1979 and 1999.