Apr 21, 2009
UK Child Wellbeing UK Ranked 24th Out of 29 European Countries
It’s depressing that after all these years of A Labour government the UK fares so badly. Here’s the table in full.
1 Netherlands
2 Sweden
3 Norway
4 Iceland
5 Finland
6 Denmark
7 Slovenia
8 Germany
9 Ireland
10 Luxembourg
11 Austria
12 Cyprus
13 Spain
14 Belgium
15 France
16 Czech Republic
17 Slovakia
18 Estonia
19 Italy
20 Poland
21 Portugal
22 Hungary
23 Greece
24 United Kingdom
25 Romania
26 Bulgaria
27 Latvia
28 Lithuania
29 MaltaSource: BBC.
The table includes 43 separate indicators summarised in the report into seven categories.
Health including indicators on infant mortality and birth weight, the UK ranked 24th
Subjective Wellbeing including indicators on how children feel about their lives and health, the UK ranked 21st
Relationships including indicators on how easy children say they find it to talk to their parents and get on with their classmates, the UK rankled 15th
Material Resources including indicators on child poverty, the UK ranked 24th
Education including indicators on achievement and youth inactivity, the UK ranked 22nd
Housing and Environment including indicators on overcrowding and housing problems, the UK ranked 17thSource: Child Poverty Action Group.
Still don’t be fooled that the Tories will be any better – they’ll leave it to market forces and a quick look around the world reveals that market forces is pretty keen on using children as slave labour.
Think you should look at how that report was carried out before putting on website – sounds like the stufff of tory think tanks!
I don’t think CPAG (Child Poverty Action Group) are a Tory think tank as this quote from their website illustrates.
“Government action like Sure Start, child tax credit and the children’s plan will already be making a difference, but more is needed. All political parties must pledge to direct more of our national resources towards making children’s lives better. We need to rethink the place of children in today’s Britain and ensure the right to a good childhood is central to our national culture.
“We cannot afford a ‘do nothing’ budget for children. The report shows a clear link between high levels of child wellbeing and low levels of child poverty. If we fail to protect families during the downturn, progress on child wellbeing could go into reverse. The Chancellor must take the final steps needed to keep the promise to halve child poverty by 2010.”
No Tory is going to make such statements.
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