Children's well-being at risk in rich countries

Children in wealthier industrial nations are often unhappy with their lives, dealing with mental problems, obesity and lack of basic reading and mathematical skills all negatively impacting their well-being, according to a study released by the UN's children's agency on Thursday.

In most of the 41 EU and OECD countries examined in the study by UNICEF's research center Innocenti, less than 80% of 15-year-old children said they were satisfied with their state of well-being. Turkey had the lowest rate of satisfaction at 53%, followed by Japan and the United Kingdom.

Read more: Asymptomatic children can spread coronavirus for weeks, study finds

Germany middling

The so-called Report Card showed that in Germany, 75% of girls and boys were very satisfied with their lives, placing the country in the upper middle spectrum.

A spokesman for UNICEF Germany, Rudi Tarneden, said the German statistic could be read two ways.

"On the one hand, 75% is a good value, but you can also turn it around and say: Every fourth child is not very satisfied. And that's not that good in an international comparison," he said.

The Netherlands, Denmark and Norway were the three countries with the happiest children, with the Netherlands achieving a score of 90% highly satisfied children.

Childhood problems

Dissatisfaction among children can even lead to suicide, which is one of the main causes of death among 15- to 19-year-olds in rich countries, according to the UN. Lithuania was the country with the worst record on this score in the study, followed by New Zealand and Estonia.

Obesity is one of the major risks to children's well-being, with around one in three children being affected by the problem to some degree, the study showed. In Germany, some 27% of children are classed as overweight. The rate of obesity is growing fastest in southern Europe.

Another finding of the study was that around 40% of children in EU and OECD countries lack basic skills in reading and math. The countries with the lowest scores in this regard were Bulgaria, Romania and Chile, while children in Estonia, Ireland and Finland were top of the class.

Some improvements, but a great danger

UNICEF also noted several improvements in children's lives across the countries covered, including the fact that 95% of children were receiving some form of organized preschool educational support. The report also showed that the number of young people who did not attend school or do some kind of training had sunk in 30 of 37 countries.

But UNICEF emphasized that the ongoing coronavirus pandemic was having a "catastrophic" impact on children, particularly because of school closures and restrictions on movement. It also warned that the expected slump in world economies over the next few years would increase child poverty if no measures were taken to combat it.

Read more: Poverty threatens ever more people in Germany 

If you are suffering from serious emotional strain or suicidal thoughts, do not hesitate to seek professional help. You can find information on where to find such help, no matter where you live in the world, at this website: https://www.befrienders.org/