CHILDREN'S WORLDS REPORT 2020
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CHILDREN'S
WORLDS
REPORT
2020
SUMMARYA unique worldwide view of children's perspectives
Children’s Worlds Survey, 2016-19
How do children feel about their lives overall?
Between 2016 and 2019, the third wave of the
Children were asked questions about:
Children’s Worlds survey asked over 128,000
children aged approximately 8, 10 and 12 years in How satisfied they were with their life
35 countries / regions across four continents, their How often they felt happy
views about their lives.
How often they felt sad
The survey provides a unique contemporary view
Figure 1 shows the averages of 10-year-old children
of children’s lives in a wide range of countries in
for these questions.
terms of economic wealth, geography and culture.
Most children had a positive sense of well-being,
with variation between countries.
What are the project goals? The top six countries were all in southern Europe.
The bottom eight countries were all in Asia.
1. Understand and promote children’s subjective
views and experiences of their own lives and well- Country position did not seem to reflect economic
being wealth
2. Encourage policymakers, and all those concerned Figure 1: Overall well-being
with children’s well-being, to take account of these
views and act to improve children’s experiences of Albania 9.4
childhood Romania 9.0
Croatia 8.8
Who did the research? Greece 8.8
The survey was carried out by an international team of Spain 8.8
researchers from universities in each of the Malta 8.8
participating countries. It received core funding from Algeria 8.8
the Jacobs Foundation and additional funding in the India 8.6
individual countries. Ethic approval was gained in each Hungary 8.6
country. Switzerland 8.5
Italy 8.5
How was the research done? Norway 8.5
Questionnaires were developed by discussing, testing Chile 8.4
and piloting with children, and were then translated Poland 8.4
into many languages. Children in mainstream schools Estonia 8.4
completed the survey either on paper or online. Sri Lanka 8.4
Brazil 8.3
What did the survey ask? Wales 8.3
The survey covered a wide range of aspects in France 8.3
children’s lives: Germany 8.3
England 8.3
Characteristics Economic / material Israel 8.2
Finland 8.2
Home Family S Africa 8.2
School Friends Belgium 8.2
Russia 8.1
Neighbourhood Time use Namibia 7.9
Nepal 7.9
Country Self
S Korea 7.9
Overall well-being Rights Taiwan 7.8
Bangladesh 7.8
Indonesia 7.8
Malaysia 7.7
Hong Kong 7.7
Vietnam 7.6
Mean overall well-being (0-10)
Children aged 10 years old. The chart shows mean scores based on life
satisfaction and feelings of happiness and sadnessWho do children live with? In 13 countries more than one in ten children said
Responses reflected diverse circumstances. The they did not have enough money to take part in
majority of children in all countries lived with their school trips.
family, however: Many children often or always worried about how
much money their family had. The youngest age
In seven countries, more than 90% of children lived
group worried the most. More than one in five 8-
with both birth parents. In five countries less than
year-olds in the majority of countries said they
70% did so (Figure 2).
often or always worried about family money.
In India (Kolkata) and Albania most children lived
with a grandparent. In Finland and Norway less than Figure 4: % of children often worrying about family money
2% did so.
Figure 2: No. of parents that children lived with
2 parents 1 parent No parents
Albania
India
Greece
Brazil
Namibia
S Africa
0% 50% 100%
% of children
Countries with highest and lowest % living with both parents
Children aged 10 years old
What do children have?
Children were asked about owning and access to
several different material items.
Children’s access to technology is now recognised as a
fundamental resource for their well-being and
development.
Over 90% of children had internet access in many
Some countries did not survey all age groups
high-income countries. Less than half did so in
Bangladesh, Indonesia and Nepal.
In most countries more than one in ten children
Figure 3: Internet access at home said they didn’t always have enough food to eat
each day.
Norway 99%
Figure 5: % of children who always had enough food each
Germany 98% day
Estonia 98%
Hungary 95%
Indonesia 46% Romania 95%
Bangladesh 40% Croatia 95%
Nepal 33%
Vietnam 71%
0% 50% 100%
Sri Lanka 68%
Countries with highest and lowest levels of access
Children aged 10 years old Indonesia 61%
Mobile phone ownership among 10-year-olds also 0% 50% 100%
varied widely, from 33% in Sri Lanka to 99% in Countries with highest and lowest percentages
Children aged 10 years old
Finland.How children’s views varied with age How girls’ and boys’ views differed
Children’s views on various aspects of their lives Differences in life satisfaction and happiness
varied with age. between boys and girls were not clear and
Overall well-being tended to fall as they grew older, consistent.
in most countries In many countries girls tended to report higher
In many countries they also tended to become less levels of sadness than boys
positive about various specific aspects of their lives In many areas of life, gender differences were
as they grew older. These included satisfaction with mixed. For example, in some countries girls were
family life, school and their neighbourhood. happier with family life, in other countries it was
For example, in almost all countries children felt boys.
less satisfied with places to play and spend time in One of the aspects where girls tended to be more
their neighbourhood, as they got older. satisfied than boys, was friends' support
Figure 5: % totally agreeing there are places to play and Figure 6: % totally agreeing that their friends support them
have a good time in the neighbourhood when they have a problem
Some countries did not survey all age groups Children aged 10 years old
An exception to this pattern was children feeling Girls felt slightly safer at school than boys did in
safe at home. Older children tended to feel less safe many countries, but they also felt slightly less safe in
at school and in their neighbourhood. It was the their neighbourhoods
youngest age group who tended to feel least safe at
home.How happy were children across the different Most positive Least positive
Country
aspects of their lives? aspect aspect
The aspects of life that children tended to rate Albania Classmates Neighbourhood
highest in most countries were their family, their Algeria Life as a student Neighbourhood
home and the things they had. Bangladesh Life as a student Health
Health and safety were often rated quite high. Belgium Possessions Life as a student
One aspect with a low rating in almost all countries Brazil Learning Safety
was classmates.
Chile Future Neighbourhood
In many countries children rated the feeling of being
Croatia Freedom Neighbourhood
listened to relatively low.
Estonia Neighbourhood Learning
Areas for improvement
Finland Listened to Life as a student
A key aim of this project is to help identify areas for
improvement in children’s experiences of life in each France Neighbourhood Listened to
country, based on a comparative perspective Germany Freedom Neighbourhood
The report considers variations in ratings for different Greece Appearance Possessions
aspects of life within and between countries. This Hong Kong SAR Safety Time use
identifies the most and least positive aspects in each Hungary Future Life as a student
country. Policymakers can then recognise existing
India Life as a student Freedom
strengths and focus on areas for improvement.
Indonesia Life as a student House
Knowledge of rights
Israel Freedom Learning
In 14 of 34 countries less than half of children said
Italy Health Future
they knew their rights. In Albania, Croatia and
Greece more than four of five did so. Malaysia Neighbourhood Classmates
Figure 7: % of children knowing their rights Malta Appearance Freedom
Namibia Life as a student Classmates
Albania 85% Nepal Life as a student Appearance
Croatia 84%
Greece 82% Norway Freedom Time use
Sri Lanka 79% Poland Future Life as a student
Namibia 76%
Norway 73% Romania Freedom Classmates
Nepal 73%
Russia 70% Russia Neighbourhood Life as a student
Romania 70% South Africa Life as a student Classmates
Poland 70%
Chile 69% South Korea Classmates Appearance
Wales 66% Spain Classmates Life as a student
England 65%
Finland 64% Sri Lanka Student Neighbourhood
S Africa 61% Switzerland Neighbourhood Learning
Italy 57%
Taiwan 55% Taiwan Safety Time use
France 55% UK (England) Possessions Appearance
Israel 54%
Algeria 52% UK (Wales) Freedom Appearance
Malta 49%
Brazil 47% Vietnam Listened to Friends
India 46% Findings based on calculation of relative scores.
Spain 46% See full report for details.
Estonia 45% Children aged 10 years old
Germany 45%
S Korea 44%
Vietnam 44% This summary is based on findings in the initial report
Belgium 43% on this wave of the survey – Children’s views on their
Malaysia 41%
Bangladesh 40% lives and well-being in 35 countries: A report on the
Switzerland 39% Children’s Worlds project, 2016-19– which is available at
Hungary 38% the project website: www.isciweb.org
Hong Kong SAR 36%
% who know their rights
Children aged 10 years oldYou can also read
