Posted February 13, 2007 The UK is bottom of a league table for child well-being across 21 industrial countries, charity Unicef has said. The study looked at 40 indicators including poverty, relationships with parents, health and safety, behaviour, and children's own sense of well-being. The Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark and Finland headed the list, with the UK in last place just behind the US. The Children's Society described the findings as "shocking" and said the UK was failing children. 'Child potential' The UK rated highly for education but was in the bottom third for all of the other categories. Unicef - the United Nations' children's organisation - says the report, titled Child Poverty in Perspective: An Overview of Child Wellbeing in Rich Countries, is the first study of childhood across the world's industrialised nations. Unicef UK executive director David Bull said all the countries had weaknesses that needed to be addressed. "By comparing the performance of countries we see what is possible with a commitment to supporting every child to fulfil his or her full potential," he said. The Children's Society has launched a website to coincide with the report, http://www.mylife.uk.com, which allows children to answer a series of surveys about their lives. Commenting on the Unicef report, the society's chief executive Bob Reitemeier said: "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." 'Failed generation' Colette Marshall, UK director of Save the Children, said it was "shameful" to see the UK at the bottom of the table. "This report shows clearly that despite the UK's wealth, we are failing to give children the best possible start in life," she said. "The UK government is not investing enough in the wellbeing of children, especially to combat poverty and deprivation." Shadow Chancellor George Osborne accused Chancellor Gordon Brown of having "failed this generation of children". "After 10 years of his welfare and education policies, our children today have the lowest wellbeing in the developed world," said Mr Osborne. A spokesman for the UK government said it had made progress on child well-being through a number of initiatives in areas such as poverty, pregnancy rates, teenage smoking, drinking and risky sexual behaviour. "Nobody can dispute that improving children's well-being is a real priority for this government," she said. "We recognise that Unicef does vital work in this area. But in many cases the data used is several years old and does not reflect more recent improvements in the UK, such as the continuing fall in the teenage pregnancy rate or in the proportion of children living in workless households. "We are working hard to improve all children's life chances and the report confirms that children's educational attainment at 15 in the UK compares well with many other EU countries." CHILD WELL-BEING LEAGUE TABLE 1. Netherlands 2. Sweden 3. Denmark 4. Finland 5. Spain 6. Switzerland 7. Norway 8. Italy 9. Republic of Ireland 10. Belgium 11. Germany 12. Canada 13. Greece 14. Poland 15. Czech Republic 16. France 17. Portugal 18. Austria 19. Hungary 20. United States 21. United Kingdom Source: Unicef Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 13, 2007 "The worse children in Europe"? They're obviously wrong about this bit! The UK rated highly for education Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 13, 2007 Can someone fix the topic title please. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 14, 2007 Bollocks. Notice how most of the catagories (poverty, relationships with parents, health and safety, behaviour, and children's own sense of well-being) are non quantative and can't realy be judged. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 14, 2007 20. United States 21. United Kingdom Source: Unicef ...Wait, the US is part of the EU now? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 14, 2007 I say bring back discipline. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 14, 2007 ...Wait, the US is part of the EU now? I said before that someone please fix the title as "UK has the worse children" because some reason I cant change it. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 14, 2007 We're at 17th! YES! Wait... I'm confused. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 14, 2007 Surely the headline is "UK failing it's children"? So much for Tony's "Education-Education-Education" policies. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 14, 2007 Doesn't surprise me one bit about the UK being so low in that list. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 14, 2007 I think we all know what principle to adopt here, Reggie's Kicking Ass and Taking Names method. Act out of line = Ass kicked and name taken. Act out of line again = Ass kicked again, but harder. Repeat method until message sinks in. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 14, 2007 Your going to keep kicking children until they stop being bullied and start getting a better service from the education system? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 14, 2007 Sure. The study looked at 40 indicators including poverty, relationships with parents, health and safety, behaviour, and children's own sense of well-being. It may not exactly help with poverty. Relationship with parents will improve when they start being good, as knowing what will happen when they're bad will sink in. Good behaviour is rewarded = love for parents. It's all about gifts at the young age. Improve safety by constantly showing videos of kids getting run over etc. Of course running them over may defeat the object, as they wouldn't be safe. Or healthy with broken ribs. Behaviour. Bad behaviour = ass kicking. Therefore, be good. Kinda like crime and punishment, disregard it and it'll rape you more and more every time. Own sense of well being, if they're not being bad enough to be pimpsmacked they must be feeling pretty good about themselves. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 14, 2007 Eevilmurray, for the love of god don't become a parent. You'd be arrested within minutes. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 14, 2007 I'm not surprised about this one bit. The 'business' fixed lifestyle of working (employed) parents means they can't be with their kids as much for one, you have expectations f how much you should work with a lot of companies. Our education system is shit compared to what it used to be, and even lil countries like Malta beat us easily on it. This doesn't help that schools and parents don't know how to disipline their children anymore. Also taxpayers pay way to much for other people claiming benefits, meaning the poor families who don't work and have 50 kids, yet still manage to have Sky eat up everyones money which could go into education, improving the NHS or using it for bnefits for people who actually need it; not only that, but those 50 kids have a high chance just go and do the same as their parents when they're older. These kids are also usually scummy chavs who will be thieves etc etc, therefor running down even more areas and making life worse for other kids. Ya! #12 Well Canada dwellers are supposed to have the best quality of life overall anyway so... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 14, 2007 Our education system is shit compared to what it used to be, and even lil countries like Malta beat us easily on it.This doesn't help that schools and parents don't know how to disipline their children anymore. It's still one of the best, tho. And It's not that schools and parent's don't know how to disipline their children, it's because they aren't allowed. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 14, 2007 Surely the headline is "UK failing it's children"? So much for Tony's "Education-Education-Education" policies. its :p So much indeed Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 14, 2007 Have you noticed how th poorer, colder countries topped that list? And the more powerful came last? Not that the UK is like the tropics or anything... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 14, 2007 Have you noticed how th poorer, colder countries topped that list? And the more powerful came last? Not that the UK is like the tropics or anything... That's bullshit. I assume you're refering to sweden, denmark and finland (which aren't poor anyway), but when you look down the list, there's poland, czech republic, austria and hungary. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 14, 2007 Relationship with parents will improve when they start being good, as knowing what will happen when they're bad will sink in. Good behaviour is rewarded = love for parents. It's all about gifts at the young age. You know, you're damn right. Education studies is a massive part of my course at uni, and we're being taught how rewarding good behaviour often has a greater effect than condemning bad behaviour. So, I think if parents praise their kids more, and if schools do it too, it will really help a great deal. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 14, 2007 You know, you're damn right. Education studies is a massive part of my course at uni, and we're being taught how rewarding good behaviour often has a greater effect than condemning bad behaviour. So, I think if parents praise their kids more, and if schools do it too, it will really help a great deal. This country has so many chavs in, it's unbelievable. I'm sorry if you are one, it is just that some people can't end a sentance in 'innit'. My town has been taken over by them and their Just-do-it bags. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 14, 2007 shocking? is anyone in the uk actually gunna think they would be higher up the table? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Posted February 14, 2007 UK REPORT FINDINGS UK child poverty has doubled since 1979 Children living in homes earning less than half national average wage - 16% Children rating their peers as "kind and helpful" - 43% Families eating a meal together "several times" a week - 66% Children who admit being drunk on two or more occasions - 31% Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
