According to UNICEF research, British children live the worst. The United States also 'distinguished itself' by taking the penultimate spot on the list. The authors of the report gave the lead to children and adolescents from the Netherlands.
The study in 21 countries was conducted across six categories: 'material well-being', 'health care', 'education quality', 'relationships with parents and peers', 'lifestyle', and 'subjective sense of well-being'. To the experts' surprise, the situation of British teenagers was the most distressing. In the categories of 'standard of living' and 'relationships with parents and peers', the UK took last places entirely. UNICEF experts gave the UK the penultimate spot in the 'subjective sense of well-being' category. In education and material well-being, it ranked 17th and 18th respectively, and only in the 'health care' category did the British receive a 'high' 12th place.
One of the report's authors, University of York professor Jonathan Bradshaw, admitted he was surprised by the study's results. He believes that for a long time British authorities have paid little attention to the 'children's issue' and allocated insufficient funds. According to him, today the level of child poverty in the United Kingdom is twice as high as in 1979. 'This is the result of a neglectful attitude toward children's problems over the past decades. The study clearly shows how much more we have to do,' Bradshaw said.
In addition, experts note that British youth lag far behind their peers from other countries in terms of relationships with friends. The report's authors found that in the UK, only 40% of children consider their friends kind and willing to help. For comparison: in Switzerland, this figure is 80%.
Overall, British children consider themselves less happy than their peers from other countries. Schoolchildren in the UK drink heavily: nearly a third of surveyed teenagers aged 11, 13, and 15 had been drunk more than once. They use drugs: 35% of surveyed teenagers had smoked marijuana at least once in the past year. They start sexual activity early: almost 40% of 15-year-old respondents admitted to having already had sex.
Bob Reitemeier, head of the British Children's Fund, considers the situation critical. He believes the study should be a wake-up call for the country's authorities. Collette Marshall, head of the British branch of the organization 'Save the Children', even called the results a disgrace for the country and urged the government to allocate an additional 4.5 billion pounds sterling (approximately $8.8 billion) for child social programs. Only in this way, in her opinion, can child poverty be halved by 2010.
Representatives of the British authorities have already reacted to the published report. UK Minister for Employment Jim Murphy stated that the report's authors used outdated data in their research, while modern indicators are much better. Other officials said that the authorities are doing enough for the benefit of children: for example, the country is actively fighting early sexual activity and smoking among teenagers.
The experts place blame not only on the authorities. In their opinion, much also depends on parents and how much time they devote to their children.
Incidentally, the British Children's Fund has already launched a new website where teenagers themselves can answer questions, allowing specialists to get a more complete picture of their lives.
According to UNICEF experts, children and adolescents in the Netherlands fare best. This country never fell below the 10th place in any of the six indicators. Next, with a slight lag, are the Scandinavian countries - Sweden, Denmark, and Finland.
The report's authors conclude that a country's position in the UNICEF ranking does not depend on its overall level of prosperity. For example, in the annual UN ranking, the UK occupies top spots. The less economically developed Czech Republic took 15th place in the overall UNICEF ranking, while the US took 20th. Moreover, in terms of medical development, our former Warsaw Pact partner significantly outperformed, for instance, Austria and the USA. In this category, the Czech Republic has 10th place, while Austria and the US have 20th and 21st respectively.