Home » ExchangeEveryDay » Netherlands First in Child Well-Being



ExchangeEveryDay Past Issues


<< Previous Issue | View Past Issues | | Next Issue >> ExchangeEveryDay
Netherlands First in Child Well-Being
February 22, 2007
If you want to be listened to, you should put in time listening.
-Marge Piercy

The Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, and Finland are at the top and the United States and the United Kingdom at the bottom of a United Nations score card that provides the first comprehensive assessment of the well-being of children and young people in the world’s advanced economies.

The study, "Child Poverty in Perspective: An Overview of Child Well-Being in Rich Countries," produced by the UNICEF Innocent Research Centre in Florence, Italy, is based on six dimensions to measure the well-being of children �" material well-being, health and safety, education, peer and family relationships, behaviours and risks, and young people’s own subjective sense of well-being. In these six dimensions, there were 40 individual items where nations were rated including such diverse elements as...

  • percentage of children living in poverty
  • percentage of children reporting less than six educational possessions
  • infant mortality rate
  • mathematics literacy
  • percentage of children whose parents eat their main meal with them
  • percentage of children overweight
  • percentage of students who agree with the statement, "I feel like an outsider."
The report shows that among all of the 21 countries surveyed in the study there is room for improvement. The report finds no strong or consistent relationship between per capita gross domestic product (GDP) and child well-being. The Czech Republic, for example, achieves a higher overall rank for child well-being (12.5) than several much wealthier European countries. Also no country features in the top third of the rankings for all six dimensions.

The report is intended as a first step towards regular and comprehensive monitoring of child well-being. Its scope is limited by the availability of comparable data, which means that key areas such as mental and emotional health and child neglect and abuse are omitted. But UNICEF hopes it will help to stimulate the collection of more comprehensive and more timely data. To read the full report, go to www.unicef.org/media/media_38299.html.

ExchangeEveryDay

Delivered five days a week containing news, success stories, solutions, trend reports, and much more.

What is ExchangeEveryDay?

ExchangeEveryDay is the official electronic newsletter for Exchange Press. It is delivered five days a week containing news stories, success stories, solutions, trend reports, and much more.

Atention Job Seekers

Exchange's "Employment Opportunties" service provides a diverse list of jobs around the world for early childhood professionals. Check out the opportunities!



Comments (8)

Displaying 5 of 8 Comments   [ View all ]
sarah grace nakiwala · April 11, 2008
ageing with hope
kampala, central, Uganda


thanks for the work you are doing to bring up the kids.
in case one wants to be trainded to help in bringing up kids in proper way what can she do.can she be sponsered or not.

kesheee · March 03, 2008
port louis, Mauritius


could not understand

Holly Wilcher · February 23, 2007
Denver, CO, United States


I think Dr. Bruce Perry sums up our dilema here in the US quite well when he says concerning children,

"If 20 million people were infected by a virus that caused anxiety, impulsivity, aggression, sleep problems, depression, respiratory and heart problems, vulnerability to substance abuse, antisocial and criminal behavior, retardation and school failure, we would consider it an urgent public health crisis. Yet, in the United States alone, there are more than 20 million abused, neglected and traumatized children vulnerable to these problems. Our society has yet to recognize this epidemic, let alone develop an immunization strategy."

Diana Boyd · February 22, 2007
United States


Oops, it's supposed to be--stop looking at the US and adopting US things, such as longer work days, both parents working, which I believe helped put the US so low.

Diana Boyd · February 22, 2007
Zuid Holland, United States


Barbara,

Re: countries looking up to the US. Yes, it is really amazing to me how much the US is a role model to other countries. Others want to be like the US, even though they may disagree with it's military strategy at this time and dislike the president, Americans do not realize the impact their country has on the world. This is one of my big concerns that the countries, namely the Netherlands, over here will stop looking to the US as how they should do things and start adopting US things that helped put it at the bottom.



Post a Comment

Have an account? to submit your comment.


required

Your e-mail address will not be visible to other website visitors.
required
required
required

Check the box below, to help verify that you are not a bot. Doing so helps prevent automated programs from abusing this form.



Disclaimer: Exchange reserves the right to remove any comments at its discretion or reprint posted comments in other Exchange materials.