Sixteenth place is a considerable improvement on UNICEF’s previous report in 2007 when Britain limped in last, but there are several areas in which Britain is still lagging behind.
Study areas: UNICEF looked into five areas, including child poverty, health and safety, education, behaviour and housing conditions. The Netherlands is labelled the best place for a child or teenager to grow up in, along with Finland, Sweden and Germany. Countries at the bottom of this year’s league table include the United States, Romania and Lithuania. However, for Britain, the report shows that children here have worse prospects in life in several areas, including a higher percentage of children living in poverty than other European countries like Slovenia and the Czech Republic. Anita Tiessan, the deputy executive director of UNICEF UK, warns that any further progress is under threat, as the Coalition Government’s welfare cuts begin to bite.
Failing children: The UK also has the lowest number of 15-19 year olds in further education of any developed nation - a figure of particular concern to many children’s charities. Chris Wellings, who is the head of policy for Save the Children, said that the UK is failing children and young people in a number of crucial ways. Current figures show that there are 2.3 million children in the UK living in poverty. However, UNICEF’s report uses figures up until 2010, and bases their comparisons on each individual country’s relative median poverty line, which varies considerably across the world. James Browne, a senior economist at the Institute of Fiscal Studies, suggests that the picture might not be so bleak for British children in comparison to other countries in the league table.
Improving lifestyle choices: Areas that have seen marked improvement include a falling number of under-15’s using drugs, such as cannabis. Martin Barnes, the CE of Drugscope, said that although 17 per cent of young people report using drugs at least once, the number of young addicts is expected to continue to decline. The UK has also seen a fall in young people who are overweight, from more than 15 per cent to a little over 10 per cent, and more children reported an increase in how satisfied they are in life. But despite the drop in drinking levels, the UK also still had one the highest alcohol abuse rates by young people between the age of 11 and 15, which is said to affect about 20 per cent. Chris Wellings from save the children said that many problems facing young people in the UK stem from a perception of a lack of opportunities particularly in poorer communities.
Putting children first: UNICEF’s report argues that the UK needs to prioritise youth services, even in a period of austerity, to try and close the gap on nations that are far out-performing this country, like the Netherlands. It’s not yet clear what the impact of the coalition government’s austerity agenda will be on children’s well-being in the UK, though many economists predict that by 2015 there will be an extra 400,000 children living below the poverty line.
Nima Green,
Source: Article
