For the sake of our children we must not be shamed by being bottom of the class again

8th March 2007
By David Bull

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The UK’s ranking in An Overview of Child Well-being in Rich Countries has attracted much attention from media and commentators over the past few weeks. Not entirely surprising given the fact that the UK ranks in the bottom third of the country rankings for five of the six dimensions reviewed and ranks bottom overall.

The report measures and compares overall child well-being across six dimensions: material well-being; health and safety; education; peer and family relationships; behaviours and risks, and young people’s own subjective sense of well-being.

To some extent these dimensions echo the UK government’s own Every Child Matters five key outcome indicators for children. In total, 40 separate indicators of child well-being — from relative poverty and child safety, to educational achievement to drug abuse — are brought together in this overview to present a picture of the lives of children.

What’s clear in the report is that all countries have weaknesses that need to be addressed and no country features in the top third of the rankings for all the six dimensions. But by comparing the performance of countries we see just what is possible when a society commits fully to supporting every child to fulfil his or her potential.

The UK ranks in the bottom third of the country rankings for five of the six dimensions reviewed. While the country ranks higher in the health and safety dimension, the UK lags behind in terms of relative poverty and deprivation, quality of children’s relationships with their peers and parents, education post-15 years, risk taking behaviours and subjective well-being.

With regard to the social dimensions, only 43 per cent of children in the UK described their peers as ‘kind and helpful’ compared to 81 per cent in Switzerland.

The report does not attempt to go beyond the figures to explain each country’s individual rankings, or apportion blame, but is intended to stimulate national debate and galvanise commitment from countries to address areas in which they have room for improvement.

In the UK, the overwhelming response has been one of recognition both of its conclusions and its academic rigour. However, there has been concern raised from some quarters that the report is misleading through using figures that are out of date.

UNICEF has been frank and open about the methodology behind the report and has acknowledged that there have been some very welcome improvements in recent years, though it was not clear that these would make a great difference to the UK’s overall position.

This is a pioneering attempt to measure child well-being drawing on some 40 separate indicators of the most recently available comparable data.

As anyone involved in research will appreciate, the collection of comparable international data is a particularly long process. Statistics are collected at a country level, checked and tested for consistency of definition and data collection, before being made available to researchers for further analysis and only then for re-publication.

The report’s uniqueness also lies in the fact that it includes qualitative research — collected through interviews with children and parents. Data of this kind is even more time consuming to collect, check and analyse hence surveys such as these are only conducted every three to four years.

For our children in the UK, nothing will be gained by turning the report into an opportunity for political point-scoring. A more sophisticated response will be to turn this into an opportunity for political parties, charities, academics and those working for children and young people to work together to build a national consensus behind the development of policies that put the well-being of children and young people first in economy, society and culture.

Furthermore, we encourage anyone interested in the welfare of children and youth to take part in the Children’s Society’s Good Childhood Inquiry.

Whilst UNICEF is best known for its work for children internationally, we also have a duty to promote the rights of children in the developed world. In the UK, this includes our Rights Respecting Schools scheme and the Baby Friendly Initiative. It is UNICEF’s duty to use its influence at all levels to highlight the rights of children wherever they may be.

In doing this we are guided by the provisions and principles of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. We make a point of working closely with governments to deliver better results for children across the world; the UK is no exception. Let’s move away from apportioning blame and finger pointing.

We need to work together to support every child to fulfil his or her potential. That’s how we will ensure that the UK is never in last place again.

David Bull is UNICEF’s UK executive director. For more information on this report E-mail: ParliamentaryTeam@unicef.org.uk Tel: 0207 312 7697.

Filed Under: Children, Education, Child Welfare, Every Child Matters, Unicef
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