Date Published: 21 April 2009

New child wellbeing table welcomed by UNICEF UK

UNICEF UK today welcomed the release of the Child Poverty Action Group briefing on the latest EU child wellbeing index, which rates the UK as 24th out of 29 European countries on child wellbeing.

One of the co-authors of the index, Jonathan Bradshaw, previously provided much of the background material for UNICEF’s 2007 report into child wellbeing across 27 rich countries which ranked the UK at the bottom.

Today’s report looks at child wellbeing across 7 different areas including health and education. Importantly children’s views of about how they feel about themselves and their relationships are covered by a section on subjective wellbeing, as they were in the 2007 UNICEF report.

David Bull, Executive Director of UNICEF UK, said:

"This new league table of child well-being is a welcome continuation of Jonathan Bradshaw’s work but sadly once again highlights the fact that too many children in the UK are not as happy and healthy as they could be.

This is not just a matter of giving children what they need, but making sure they get the rights to which they are entitled.

We know the Government has put a lot of investment into helping children in recent years, but the current level of child poverty in the UK remains unacceptable and does not reflect the decent society we aspire to.

We are therefore urgently calling on the Government to invest at least £3 billion to help it keep its target of halving child poverty by 2010."

About UNICEF
UNICEF is on the ground in over 150 countries and territories to help children survive and thrive, from early childhood through adolescence. The world’s largest provider of vaccines for developing countries, UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS. UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses, foundations and governments.

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