A report out last week says that the UK is ranked as the worst place in the Western world for children to grow up.
The UNICEF report ranks child well-being in economically advanced countries.
According to the report, the UK and US are the worst places for children to grow up. The Netherlands topped the league, followed by Sweden and Denmark. (For Canadian readers, Canada came 12th out of the 21 countries.)
The UK is behind in terms of relative poverty and deprivation and UK children have worse relationships with their parents than children in other ‘rich’ countries and are at greater risk from alcohol, drugs and unsafe sex.
But there is opportunity for improvement: the comparisons in the report demonstrate that ‘given levels of child well-being are not inevitable but policy-susceptible’. Now we just need to elect someone who will give our children a better future.
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Recently it was reported in our papers that New Zealand is the worst place for children to grow up in, due to our horrendous child abuse stats. I wonder if it’s the same report? I’ll have to go and have a look.
New Zealand and Australia weren’t included in this report so I’m not sure where they would have fallen in the table compared with other countries. I didn’t know NZ had high rates of child abuse. Do you know why the stats are so high? Is there a correlation with alcohol abuse or something similar?
Oh, so THAT’S what the UN is doing nowadays…generating reports! I was beginning to think they all just sat around with their big thumbs up their…um, anyway.
Well, I can’t speak of the UK, but I do know the US, for such a wealthy country, doesn’t seem to do such a great job rearing its children. We spend a fortune on education, but the results are sad at best. We treat children like a burden we cannot afford and usher them away for someone else to take care of as soon as possible after they’re born. Then we’re all surprised when they’re drinking, doing drugs and having sex at the age of 13. That is if we bother to take the time to find out. Of course it isn’t like this all over, but unfortunately its becoming more the norm.
Thanks for the interesting post, Ella. I commented even before my first cup of joe!
Oh, I just re-read that and realized it was UNICEF! Sorry…I have no beef with those folks…just the United Nations…Whoops. See that’s why I should drink coffee first…
Kristen – I think I’m right in saying UNICEF is the United Nation’s Children’s Fund or similar. If not, I made a mistake in my post title. Off to check now!