Worlds of Influence Understanding What Shapes Child Well-being in Rich Countries - Innocenti Report Card 16
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Innocenti Report Card 16
Worlds of Influence
Understanding What Shapes Child
Well-being in Rich CountriesInnocenti Report Card 16 was written by Anna Gromada, Gwyther Rees and Yekaterina Chzhen with contributions from Dominic Richardson, Céline Little and David Anthony. The report was fact-checked by Alessandro Carraro, supervised by Gunilla Olsson and Priscilla Idele and edited by Madelaine Drohan. The United Nations Children’s Fund Office of Research – Innocenti (UNICEF Innocenti) would like to acknowledge the generous support for Innocenti Report Card 16 provided by the Government of Italy. Any part of this Innocenti Report Card may be freely reproduced using the following reference: UNICEF Innocenti, ‘Worlds of Influence: Understanding what shapes child well-being in rich countries’, Innocenti Report Card 16, UNICEF Office of Research – Innocenti, Florence, 2020. The Innocenti Report Card series is designed to monitor and compare the performance of economically advanced countries in securing the rights of their children. In 1988, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) established a research centre to support its advocacy for children worldwide and to identify and research current and future areas of UNICEF work. The prime objectives of the UNICEF Office of Research – Innocenti are to improve international understanding of issues relating to children’s rights, to help facilitate full implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and to support advocacy worldwide. The Office aims to set out a comprehensive framework for research and knowledge within the organization, in support of its global policies and programmes. Through strengthening research partnerships with leading academic institutions and development networks in both the North and the South, UNICEF Innocenti seeks to leverage additional resources and influence in support of efforts towards policy reform, in favour of children. Publications produced by the Office are contributions to a global debate on children and may not necessarily reflect UNICEF policies or approaches. The views expressed are those of the authors. The Office of Research – Innocenti receives financial support from the Government of Italy, while funding for specific projects is also provided by other governments, international institutions and private sources, including UNICEF National Committees. Cover photo © Dissolve/fStop ©United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), 2020 ISBN: 978-92-1-103307-6 eISBN: 978-92-1-005303-7 Print ISSN: 1605-7317 Online ISSN: 2519-108X UNICEF Office of Research – Innocenti Via degli Alfani 58 50121 Florence, Italy Tel: +39 055 2033 0 Fax: +39 055 2033 220 florence@unicef.org www.unicef-irc.org @UNICEFInnocenti facebook.com/UnicefInnocenti/ Graphic design: MCC Design, UK (mccdesign.com) Production: Sarah Marchant, UNICEF Innocenti
Innocenti Report Card 16
Worlds of Influence
Understanding What Shapes Child
Well-being in Rich CountriesE X E C U T I V E S U M M A R Y 2 I N N O C E N T I R E P O R T C A R D 1 6
E X E C U T I V E S U M M A R Y
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
A new look at children from the What makes a good Skills for life
world’s richest countries offers a childhood? Many also lack basic academic and
mixed picture of their health, skills Good mental well-being social skills by the age of 15:
and happiness. For far too many,
Feeling positive and being in good Two in five children (on average)
issues such as poverty, exclusion
mental health are key aspects of do not acquire basic reading and
and pollution threaten their mental
quality of life. However, a striking mathematics skills by age 15. In
well-being, physical health and
number of children in rich countries seven countries, the number
opportunities to develop skills.
do not have good mental well-being: drops to less than one in two.
Even countries with good social,
economic and environmental In 12 of 41 countries, less than For an equally important skill
conditions are a long way from 75 per cent of children aged 15 set – feeling confident in
meeting the targets set in the have high life satisfaction. developing interpersonal
2030 Agenda for Sustainable relationships – most children
Development. Focused and There are no reliable, comparable
agree that they make friends
data on children’s mental health
accelerated action is needed if easily. But in 18 countries more
across this set of rich countries.
these goals are to be met. than one in four children
But suicide is one of the most
The evidence from 41 common causes of death for disagree.
Organisation for Economic adolescents aged 15 to 19.
Why do all children in rich
Co-operation and Development
Good physical health countries not have a good
(OECD) and European Union (EU)
Health indicators also highlight childhood?
countries tells its own story: from
areas of concern: Poor-quality relationships
children’s chances of survival,
growth and protection, to whether 1 in 15 infants in rich countries is Children view good relationships
they are learning and feel listened born with low weight – a key risk as crucial. Those with more
to, to whether their parents have to survival. supportive families have better
the support and resources to give mental well-being.
their children the best chance for In 10 countries, more than one in
a healthy, happy childhood. This three children is overweight or Many children feel that they lack
obese. The number of obese opportunities to participate in
report reveals children’s decisions at home and at school.
experiences against the backdrop children (aged 5–19) worldwide
of their country’s policies and is expected to grow from 158
social, educational, economic and million to 250 million by 2030.
environmental contexts.
I N N O C E N T I R E P O R T C A R D 1 6 3E X E C U T I V E S U M M A R Y
Bullying by peers remains a Adolescents disengaged from Consult children. They see
serious problem; it has a lasting education and the labour market things from a different viewpoint
negative impact on relationships face a difficult start to adult life. and express serious concern for
and health. Children who are In five rich countries, more than the future of the environment,
frequently bullied have lower 10 per cent of young people how much they value
mean life satisfaction. aged 15 to 19 are not in relationships and participating
education, training or work. in decisions.
In some countries, at least 1 in
10 parents report no family or Gaps in family policy Connect policies. Carefully
friends they can count on for help integrated policies that
In five rich countries, parental
with looking after their children. leave is less than 10 weeks (full- complement and strengthen one
pay equivalent). Leave reserved another are key to improving
Lack of resources
for fathers makes up only one child well-being.
In almost half of rich countries,
tenth of all parental leave.
more than one in five children Create strong foundations. The
live in poverty. In many countries, Expectations to prioritize work Sustainable Development Goals
the poorest children are at can lead to long hours and stress provide a roadmap to ensuring
greater risk of depression, that reduce the time and energy child well-being now and for the
obesity and low academic parents have for their children. future. Governments should
achievement. On average, two out of five intensify and accelerate their
employees in Europe found it efforts to meet these goals,
Children without books at home
difficult to fulfil family including:
to help with school work suffer
responsibilities at least several 1. Reduce poverty, and ensure
academically.
times per month. that all children have access to
More time playing outside is
The broader context the resources they need.
linked to much higher levels of
happiness. Yet many children say Unemployment – which affects 2. Improve access to affordable
that good play and leisure family relationships and child and high-quality early years
facilities are not available in their well-being – has still not dropped childcare for all children.
neighbourhoods. below its pre-Great Recession
3. Improve mental health
levels in some countries.
Gaps in services services for children and
Measles immunization rates have In 11 of 41 countries, at least adolescents.
5 per cent of households do not
dropped in 14 out of 35 countries 4. Implement and expand family-
have safely managed water.
with available time-series data. friendly policies related to the
Public provision of high-quality High levels of air pollution still workplace.
threaten the physical and mental
childcare provides a stimulating 5. Reduce the stubbornly high
health of children – who suffer
social and learning environment – levels of air pollution.
the greatest harms.
and helps to reduce socio-
6. Strengthen efforts to
economic disadvantage. And yet, What needs to be done?
immunize children against
on average, across 29 European For every child to enjoy a good preventable diseases.
countries, one in seven parents childhood, UNICEF calls on
with a child under 3 has unmet high-income countries to act
childcare needs. on three fronts:
4 I N N O C E N T I R E P O R T C A R D 1 6S E C T I O N 1 I N T R O D U C T I O N
SECTION 1
INTRODUCTION
The COVID-19 crisis that has responsibilities of governments, the virus. But, as we know from
engulfed the world during 2020 families and communities to help previous crises, they will be a
presents new threats to child well- realize children’s rights and group that experiences the
being. Even before the crisis, in the promote their well-being. longer-term negative impacts most
world’s richest countries, the daily acutely. In this report, we present
This report finds that many of the
lives of millions of children fell far a baseline picture of children’s
wealthiest countries do not
short of what anyone would call a well-being in rich countries at the
manage to convert good economic
good childhood. They suffered start of the current crisis. In a
and social conditions into
stress, anxiety and depression, companion paper, we look ahead to
consistently high child well-being
lagged behind their peers at school, how the crisis may affect child
and were physically unwell. Living in outcomes. It shows that no country well-being over the coming years.
a wealthy country did not bring them is a leader on all fronts, and that all
41 countries have significant room The time is right for countries to
happiness. Nor did it guarantee
for improvement. Such step up efforts to realize the rights
them better health or education.
improvement is urgently needed if of all children. A multi-level
For the last 20 years, the Innocenti the world’s most affluent nations approach to child well-being can
Report Card series has led the way are to meet the commitments they support this goal because it
in comparing children’s well-being made five years ago when they delivers a realistic picture. It
across rich countries. Report Card endorsed the 2030 Sustainable clarifies the links between the
16 develops this further through a Development Goals. Yet there are outcomes of individual children, the
multi-level approach to show that people and communities around
worrying signs of back-sliding on
children’s well-being is influenced them, and the nation in which they
aspects such as immunization,
by children’s own actions and live. Many countries have all the
learning and mental health.
relationships, by the networks and requisites – wealth, a clean
resources of their caregivers, and The COVID-19 crisis adds to these environment and generous social
by public policies and the national challenges. What started as a policies – to support high levels of
context. This approach is aligned health crisis will spread to touch all child well-being. Yet too many
with the 1989 United Nations aspects of economies and children in these countries still do
Convention on the Rights of the societies. Children will not suffer not experience a good childhood.
Child, in that it recognizes the the worse direct health effects of
I N N O C E N T I R E P O R T C A R D 1 6 5S E C T I O N 1 I N T R O D U C T I O N
Our framework The world at large entails Policies economic, social and environmental
We view a good childhood as one and Context (the two outer circles factors that influence child well-
in which children have a positive in light blue). Policies refer to being either directly or indirectly.
experience of childhood and the national programmes of direct Policies and Context are national
prospect of a good future.1 We relevance to the child, including conditions for well-being that
develop a multi-level approach to social policy, education and health. potentially explain variations in child
well-being and adapt it for Context includes broader well-being between countries.
international comparisons. Our
model of concentric spheres of
influence is similar to the one
developed by American
psychologist Urie Bronfenbrenner
Figure 1: A multi-level framework of child well-being
to explain how children interact
with their environment and how
this influences their development
(see Figure 1).2
The child stands at the heart of the
framework. Child well-being Context
outcomes can be objective, such
as child mortality or educational
achievement. They can also be Policies
subjective and expressed from the
child’s point of view, for example
whether they are satisfied with life Resources
or feel they can make friends easily.
Outcomes are influenced by the
world of the child, the world around Networks
the child and the world at large.
The world of the child (in dark blue)
represents factors experienced ationships
directly by a child: the child’s
Rel
Activities and Relationships, such
as those with family and peers. The
world around the child (in medium Activities
blue) consists of Resources and
Networks. Resources include
children’s household economic
status and the quality of the
neighbourhoods they live in. Outcomes
Networks are the connections
between people around the child,
which the child may not directly
experience, but which can affect
their well-being. An example is The world of the child
work pressure on their parents.
These four inner circles of the The world around the child
framework can explain variations
between children within countries. The world at large
6 I N N O C E N T I R E P O R T C A R D 1 6S E C T I O N 1 I N T R O D U C T I O N
Spotlight 1 About the data used in this report
This is our third study of multidimensional child well- of books that a child has at home is often used as an
being in rich countries and it builds on our previous objective measure of home educational resources, but
work. Report Card 7 broke new ground by it may have different significance in different
comparing child well-being across 21 countries. countries.3 Subjective indicators may also vary in
It had a major impact on public discourse and on meaning. For example, there may be cultural
policymakers. Report Card 11 extended the number differences in self-evaluations of life satisfaction,4
of countries to 29 and updated the rankings. Report although it is possible to explain most of the variation
Cards 7 and 11 took a dashboard approach, between countries in mean life satisfaction scores
assessing aspects of children’s physical, cognitive based on national social and economic conditions.5
and mental well-being side-by-side.
Where a number of options met these criteria, we
Report Card 16 introduces a multi-level framework prioritized the continuity of indicators from previous
and expands the coverage of child well-being both multidimensional Report Cards.
conceptually and geographically. It covers 41 high-
Data gaps
income countries (members of the OECD and/or the
EU). The report also adopts a broader outlook on child In many cases our choices were limited or there was
well-being. For example, we consider social skills to a lack of comprehensive data. Some of the most
be of equal value to academic skills so we included a important data shortages or gaps that we highlighted
new indicator for making friends easily. We also pay in our search for indicators were:
more attention to environmental factors given how
worried children are about the future of the planet.
Mental well-being. There are limited data on
children’s positive sense of well-being and flourishing.
These innovations, along with missing data, reduced The best indicator we could find – life satisfaction –
the potential for comparisons of Report Card 16 with was only available for 33 of the 41 countries. There is
Report Cards 7 and 11. Yet, to help with tracking also a shortage of comparable international data on
well-being trends, we updated those elements of the children’s mental ill-health. We have used suicide
previous Report Cards for which we have new data. rates as a proxy but for many countries these data
were only available up until 2015.
Criteria for data selection
Report Card 16 employs an array of data from high- Violence and protection. We were not able to find
any comparable indicators either on children’s
quality administrative datasets and international
experience of violence or on child protection policies.
surveys. Indicators were chosen to represent key
concepts within our framework (see Figure 1). Our Participation. Children’s experiences of being able
selection of key indicators for the league tables was to participate, have their views heard or make
guided by the following criteria: choices are hardly covered in most international
surveys. Only one such survey – Children’s Worlds –
Coverage. Data should be available for the large
which currently covers a minority of OECD/ EU
majority of the 41 Report Card countries.
countries, asks about these issues or about
Recency. Data relating to 2016 or later should children’s knowledge of their rights.
be available.
These are three topic areas that urgently need to be
Relevance. The data should be relevant to cross- addressed by government statistical departments and
national comparisons. the international research community.
Variability. There should be enough variability in The application of the well-being framework to the
the indicators between countries to be COVID-19 crisis can be found in Rees, Gwyther, Anna
informative. Gromada, Dominic Richardson and Alessandro Carraro,
Childhood in a Time of Crisis: Understanding how the
Comparability. The indicators should have the
COVID-19 pandemic is shaping child well-being in rich
same meaning across cultures.
countries, United Nations Children’s Fund Office of
The last criterion presents challenges for objective Research – Innocenti, Florence, 2020.
and subjective indicators. For example, the number
I N N O C E N T I R E P O R T C A R D 1 6 7S E C T I O N 1 I N T R O D U C T I O N
Figure 2 shows how we have additional dimensions. For example,
applied the framework presented child protection and
in Figure 1 for this report. Our implementation of children’s rights
selection of dimensions within each could be added to the Policies
sphere of the framework reflects sphere, and peace and security to
available data. Future work using the Context sphere.
the framework could include
Figure 2: Overview of the application of the framework for this report
Society
orld at large
The w
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nom
co on
E ati
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on
m
en
School
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Contex
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Wo
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Outcomes
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Soc
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Mental well-being
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Life satisfaction,
e
suicide
Skills
Reading/mathematics,
making friends
Physical health
Overweight/obesity,
mortality
8 I N N O C E N T I R E P O R T C A R D 1 6S E C T I O N 1 I N T R O D U C T I O N
Box 1: Indicators used in the report
Dimension Components Indicators Source
Life satisfaction Percentage of children with high life satisfaction at 15 PISA, 2018
Mental well-being WHO Mortality
Adolescent suicide Suicide rate for 15- to 19-year-olds
Database, 2015
Outcomes
Child mortality Child mortality rate (all causes), 5–14 UN IGME project, 2018
Physical health State of the World’s
Overweight Percentage of children overweight, 5–19
Children, 2016
Percentage proficient in mathematics and reading
Academic proficiency PISA, 2018
Skills at 15
Social skills Percentage who make friends easily at school at 15 PISA, 2018
Frequency of playing outside at 10 years old
Activities
Play Playing outside Children’s Worlds, 2017–19
(days per week)
Digital Internet use Average duration of Internet use by children EU Kids Online, 2018–19
Level of family support reported by children at
Family support HBSC, 2017/18
15 years old
Family
Relationships
Percentage of children aged 10 totally agreeing that
Family participation Children’s Worlds, 2017–19
they participate in decision-making at home
Peers Being bullied Frequency of children being bullied at 15 years old PISA, 2018
School belonging Sense of belonging at school at 15 years old PISA, 2018
School Percentage of children aged 10 totally agreeing that
School participation Children’s Worlds, 2017–19
they participate in decision-making at school
Parental support Main sources of support for parents in looking European Quality of Life
Parent–community
networks after children Survey, 2016
Percentage of employees struggling to fulfil family European Quality of Life
Networks
Work–family balance
responsibilities Survey, 2016
Parent–work
OECD based on Labour
Hours worked Average weekly hours worked on main job
Market Statistics, 2017
European Quality of Life
Parent–school Relationship with school Parents’ rating of their relationship with school
Survey, 2016
Percentage of children aged 15 having books at
Resources
Household resources School books at home PISA, 2018
home to help with school work
Neighbourhood Percentage of children aged 10 who agree that
Local play facilities Children’s Worlds, 2017–19
resources there are enough places to play in their local area
Weeks of full-rate equivalent parental leave OECD Family Database,
Parental leave
in early childhood 2018
Family policy Eurostat, HILDA, LIS and
Percentage of children in households below 60% of
Child poverty national statistical agencies,
median income
2018
Policies
Early childhood Percentage of children attending early childhood UNESCO, 2017, Report Card
education and care education and care one year before school 15 and UNSTATS
Education
Percentage of 15- to 19-year-olds out of school, OECD Family Database and
NEET
employment or training Eurostat, 2018
Immunization Measles immunization WHO/UNICEF, 2018
Health Percentage of newborns weighing less than OECD Health Database and
Low birthweight
2,500 grams WHO, 2017
Income Gross national income per capita in international dollars World Bank, 2018
Economy
Jobs Unemployment rate (percentage of active population) World Bank, 2019
Social support Percentage of adults who have someone to count on Gallup World Poll, 2016–18
Context
Society
Violence Homicide rate World Bank, 2017
Global Burden of Disease
Air pollution Mean levels of fine particulate matter PM2.5
Study, 2017
Environment
WHO/UNICEF Joint
Water quality Percentage of population using safe water
Monitoring Programme, 2017
I N N O C E N T I R E P O R T C A R D 1 6 9S E C T I O N 2 O U T C O M E S
SECTION 2
OUTCOMES
For this section, we consider two The rationale for the inclusion of The rankings of some countries vary
questions. these components, indicators and widely from one well-being outcome
their sources is explained later in to another. For example, the Republic
1. How do children experience their
this section. We were unable to of Korea is in the top third for
lives in the present?
include 3 of the 41 countries – physical health and skills, but in the
2. And what are their prospects for Israel, Mexico and Turkey – in the bottom third for mental well-being.
the future? league table of well-being In contrast, Romania is ranked fourth
These questions are related. For outcomes due to shortages of data highest for mental well-being but is
example, having good health leads (see note to Figure 3). However, in the bottom third for the physical
to both current and future well- these three countries are included, health and skills dimensions.
being. To address these questions, where possible, throughout the
The physical health and skills
we focus on indicators that directly rest of the report.
dimensions are moderately
describe the well-being outcomes The Netherlands ranks highest in the correlated (r=0.58), meaning that if
of the child. league table of outcomes, followed a country reports good results in
Our league table of child well-being by Denmark and Norway. These one of these dimensions, it is likely
outcomes corresponds to the three countries along with to report good results in the other.
innermost circle of our model (see Switzerland and Finland are in the But skills are less strongly correlated
Figure 3). It consists of three top third of rankings in all three with mental well-being (r=0.30),
dimensions (see Box 1): outcomes. Chile, Bulgaria and the while physical health and mental
United States of America are at the well-being are even more weakly
Mental well-being: This includes bottom of the table. Only Chile, the linked (r=0.10). This highlights the
both positive and negative aspects United States and Malta are in the multidimensional nature of child
of a child’s mental well-being – life bottom third of rankings for each of well-being outcomes.
satisfaction and suicide rates. the three well-being outcomes.
National income is clearly no
Physical health: This includes
rates of overweight and obesity, guarantee of the best outcomes.
which affect children now and in Each third of the league table
future, and child mortality. contains a mixture of countries with
contrasting income levels. For
Skills: This dimension focuses example, Slovenia ranks above
both on academic skills – Sweden in the top third, while in the
proficiency in reading and bottom third Lithuania fares better
mathematics; and social skills – than the United States.
feeling able to make friends easily.
1 0 I N N O C E N T I R E P O R T C A R D 1 6S E C T I O N 2 O U T C O M E S
Figure 3: A league table of child well-being outcomes: mental well-being, physical health, and academic
and social skills
Overall ranking Country Mental well-being Physical health Skills
1 Netherlands 1 9 3
2 Denmark 5 4 7
3 Norway 11 8 1
4 Switzerland 13 3 12
5 Finland 12 6 9
6 Spain 3 23 4
7 France 7 18 5
8 Belgium 17 7 8
9 Slovenia 23 11 2
10 Sweden 22 5 14
11 Croatia 10 25 10
12 Ireland 26 17 6
13 Luxembourg 19 2 28
14 Germany 16 10 21
15 Hungary 15 21 13
16 Austria 21 12 17
17 Portugal 6 26 20
18 Cyprus 2 29 24
19 Italy 9 31 15
20 Japan 37 1 27
21 Republic of Korea 34 13 11
22 Czech Republic 24 14 22
23 Estonia 33 15 16
24 Iceland 20 16 34
25 Romania 4 34 30
26 Slovakia 14 27 36
27 United Kingdom 29 19 26
28 Latvia 25 24 29
29 Greece 8 35 31
30 Canada 31 30 18
31 Poland 30 22 25
32 Australia 35 28 19
33 Lithuania 36 20 33
34 Malta 28 32 35
35 New Zealand 38 33 23
36 United States 32 38 32
37 Bulgaria 18 37 37
38 Chile 27 36 38
Note: A light blue background indicates a place in the top third of rankings, medium blue denotes the middle third, and dark blue the bottom third. The rankings in the
table were produced as follows: (1) We calculated a z-score for each indicator (reversed where necessary so that a higher score represents a more positive outcome); (2)
we calculated the mean of the two z-scores within each dimension; (3) we calculated the z-score for each mean; and (4) for the overall ranking, we then calculated the
mean of the mean z-scores for each dimension. This table includes the 38 OECD/EU countries which had data of sufficient quality across at least five of the six Outcomes
indicators listed in Box 1. We were unable to include Mexico and Turkey due to low coverage rates in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2018
survey (which provides three of the six indicators that make up the league table). We were also unable to include Israel as data were missing on two of the six indicators.
I N N O C E N T I R E P O R T C A R D 1 6 1 1S E C T I O N 2 O U T C O M E S
Mental well-being In some countries, less than two thirds of children have high life satisfaction
Mental well-being means not only Figure 4: Percentage of children with high life satisfaction at 15 years of age
the absence of mental ill-health
but also a broader sense of positive
Netherlands 90
functioning.6 We represent both
of these aspects in the first Mexico 86
league table. Romania 85
Positive functioning encompasses Finland 84
various components including Croatia 82
emotions such as feeling happy, Switzerland 82
satisfaction with life and a sense of 82
Spain
flourishing. The league table
Lithuania 82
includes a question about life
satisfaction from the Programme Iceland 81
for International Student France 80
Assessment (PISA) study, based on Estonia 78
the criteria for indicator selection
Portugal 78
(see Spotlight 1). Children aged 15
Latvia 78
years were each asked to say how
satisfied they felt with their life as a Austria 77
whole using a scale from 0 (worst Slovakia 77
possible life) to 10 (best possible Hungary 77
life). In all countries, most children
Italy 76
were reasonably satisfied with their
lives (a score above the midpoint Sweden 76
on the scale), but there was Greece 76
variation between countries in this Luxembourg 76
regard – ranging from less than
Germany 75
55 per cent of children in Turkey
Czechia 73
to 90 per cent of children in the
Netherlands (see Figure 4). Bulgaria 73
Slovenia 72
The fact that most children are
reasonably satisfied with their lives Ireland 72
is encouraging. We still need to Chile 72
consider what these percentages Poland 72
mean in terms of the large
United States 71
numbers of children who have low
Malta 70
life satisfaction. This is more than
merely a question of momentary Republic of Korea 67
‘happiness’. For example, a study in United Kingdom 64
the United Kingdom showed that, Japan 62
compared with children with
Turkey 53
average to high life satisfaction,
those with low life satisfaction 0 20 40 60 80 100
were about eight times as likely to Percentage of children with high life satisfaction (>5 out of 10)
report family conflict, six times as
likely to feel that they could not Note: Percentage of children scoring more than 5 out of 10 on the Cantril Ladder for satisfaction
with life as a whole. No data available for Australia, Belgium, Canada, Cyprus, Denmark, Israel,
express their opinions, five times as New Zealand and Norway.
likely to be bullied, and more than Source: Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2018.
1 2 I N N O C E N T I R E P O R T C A R D 1 6S E C T I O N 2 O U T C O M E S
More than 10 in 100,000 adolescents aged 15–19 years commit twice as likely not to look forward
suicide in some rich countries to going to school.7 Only 64 per
Figure 5: Suicide rate per 100,000 adolescents aged 15–19 years cent of children with low self-
reported well-being felt they had
Greece 1.4
people who supported them,
Portugal 2.1
compared with 93 per cent of other
Israel 2.2
Cyprus 2.4
children. And 24 per cent of
Turkey 2.4 children with low well-being said
Italy 2.5 that they did not feel safe at home,
Spain 2.6 compared with only about 1 per
France 3.4 cent of other children.
Denmark 3.6
There is a lack of reliable,
United Kingdom 3.7
comparable data on mental ill-
Slovakia 4.2
4.3
health among children globally. As
Bulgaria
Germany 4.4 in previous Report Cards, we used
Hungary 4.5 the suicide rate among adolescents
Netherlands 4.8 aged 15–19 years as the best
Norway 5.1 available indicator. Unfortunately,
Romania 5.1 data were only generally available
Slovenia 5.6 up to 2015. Suicide rates in this age
Luxembourg 6.0 group were above 10 per 100,000
Belgium 6.1 in Lithuania, New Zealand and
Ireland 6.4 Estonia, and lowest in Greece,
Croatia 6.6
Portugal and Israel.
Czechia 6.7
Malta 6.8 Physical health
Switzerland 7.0 The full extent of the health
Mexico 7.1 outcomes associated with
Austria 7.2
childhood and adolescence only
Sweden 7.3
becomes apparent later in life.
Republic of Korea 7.3
There are, however, some useful
Japan 7.5
indicators relating to children’s
Chile 8.0
Finland 8.2
physical health during childhood.
United States 8.7 Here we look at two indicators that
Poland 8.8 have also been included in previous
Canada 9.0 Report Cards: child mortality and
Latvia 9.5 overweight (including obesity).
Australia 9.7
For child mortality, we use the
Iceland 9.7
mortality rate for children aged 5–14
Estonia 13.9
years, provided by the United
New Zealand 14.9
Lithuania 18.2 Nations Inter-agency Group for Child
Mortality Estimation.8
0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
Suicide rate per 100,000 people aged 15–19 years
(three-year moving average)
Notes: Figures are three-year averages for 2013–2015, except that: (1) data were only available for two of
these three years in Greece, New Zealand and Slovakia; and (2) five-year averages are used for the following
three countries that had fewer than 50,000 people in this age group – Cyprus, Iceland and Luxembourg.
Source: World Health Organization Mortality Database (numbers of suicides) and World Bank database
(population estimates).
I N N O C E N T I R E P O R T C A R D 1 6 1 3S E C T I O N 2 O U T C O M E S
In more than a quarter of countries, child mortality rates are Figure 6 shows a wide range of
still over 1 per 1,000 rates, with child mortality about
Figure 6: Mortality rate per 1,000 children aged 5–14 years, 2018 four times higher in Mexico than it
is in each of the six countries with
Luxembourg 0.36 the lowest rates. Among the 41
Denmark 0.50 countries, the child mortality rate is
Finland 0.60 the outcome indicator most closely
Norway 0.63 associated with national income
Ireland 0.64 and inequality (see Spotlight 6).
Switzerland 0.66 Among the richer countries in our
Spain 0.71 list, the United States stands out.
Germany 0.72 It has a higher child mortality rate
Japan 0.73 than countries with similar levels
Italy 0.73 of per capita income.
Slovenia 0.74
Republic of Korea 0.75
The second indicator of physical
Iceland 0.78
health is overweight and obesity.
United Kingdom 0.78
Being overweight is defined as
Sweden 0.79
having a body mass index (BMI) of
over 25, while obesity is indicated
Austria 0.80
by a BMI of over 30. Obesity is a
France 0.80
serious problem for both medical
Belgium 0.80
and psychological reasons. It
Netherlands 0.81
contributes to diabetes,
Czechia 0.81
cardiovascular diseases,
Malta 0.84
hypertension, cancer, gallbladder
Australia 0.84
disease and a shorter life
Portugal 0.87
expectancy.9 It takes a social and
New Zealand 0.87
emotional toll by limiting
Cyprus 0.90
participation in social life and
Israel 0.94
lowering self-esteem.
Hungary 0.97
Canada 0.98 In recent years, rates of overweight
Greece 1.05 and obesity have increased
Croatia 1.13 substantially in high-income
Poland 1.16 countries. For example, obesity
Estonia 1.22 among children and adolescents
United States 1.34 aged 2–19 years in the United
Lithuania 1.41 States has risen by more than one
Slovakia 1.42 third in the last 15 years.10 The
Latvia 1.46 global picture is bleak. The number
Chile 1.49 of obese children and adolescents
Romania 1.80 aged 5–19 years worldwide is
Bulgaria 1.93 expected to grow from 158 million
Turkey 1.96
Mexico 2.47
0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 2.5 3.0
Mortality rate per 1,000 children aged 5–14 years
Source: United Nations Inter-agency Group for Child Mortality Estimation project.
1 4 I N N O C E N T I R E P O R T C A R D 1 6S E C T I O N 2 O U T C O M E S
in 2020 to 254 million by 2030.11 In 10 countries, more than one in three children and
The recent rise in obesity appears adolescents is overweight (including obese)
to be linked with lifestyle changes Figure 7: Percentage of young people aged 5–19 years who
and insufficient regulation of food were overweight or obese in 2016
production and advertising,
Japan 14
including predatory commercial
Estonia 20
practices, which could be
Lithuania 21
addressed by governments.12
Latvia 21
Unlike the mortality indicator, there Switzerland 22
is no clear link between overweight/ Slovakia 23
obesity rates and national income Sweden 24
among the rich countries included Belgium 24
in this report. There do appear to be Romania 25
some geographical patterns. Lower Netherlands 25
rates tend to be found mostly in Denmark 25
countries in the northern half of Poland 26
Europe and East Asia. Higher rates Luxembourg 26
are found primarily in countries Germany 27
around the Mediterranean and in Austria 27
the Americas and Oceania. Finland 27
Slovenia 27
Skills
Czechia 27
Learning new skills can be a Norway 27
rewarding experience for children in Republic of Korea 28
the present, as well as a foundation Croatia 28
for adulthood. Child well-being Iceland 28
indices often include indicators of Hungary 28
skills development, but the focus Bulgaria 28
has usually been on academic skills. Turkey 30
Social and emotional skills are also France 30
important both during childhood Ireland 31
and as a foundation for adulthood. United Kingdom 31
These types of skills are also Canada 32
increasingly seen as important for Portugal 33
employability. With this in mind, we Cyprus 33
aimed to include in our two Spain 34
indicators for the skills dimension – Australia 34
a measure of educational Israel 35
achievement near the end of Mexico 36
compulsory secondary education Chile 36
and a measure of social skills. Italy 37
Malta 37
Greece 37
New Zealand 39
United States 42
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45
Percentage of children aged 5–19 years
who are overweight or obese
Source: United Nations Children’s Fund, The State of the World’s Children 2019. Children, Food and
Nutrition: Growing well in a changing world, UNICEF, New York, 2019.
I N N O C E N T I R E P O R T C A R D 1 6 1 5S E C T I O N 2 O U T C O M E S
Spotlight 2 Body image relates to life satisfaction
twice as strongly for girls than for boys
How adolescents feel about their bodies has an impact In those countries for which we have data, the
on their well-being. A positive body image is linked to proportion of children aged 11, 13 and 15 years who
greater self-confidence. A negative body image can were dissatisfied with their own body ranged from
lead to shame, anxiety, depression, isolation and low more than 33 per cent in Iceland to 55 per cent in
self-confidence.13 It is also the strongest contributor to Poland. More children overall thought they were too fat
anorexia and bulimia.14 For example, in the United (29 per cent) than too thin (16 per cent). Based on
States, most adolescent girls and one third of weight and height measurements, 23 per cent of girls
adolescent boys report unhealthy attempts at weight and 27 per cent of boys aged 15 years were actually
control, such as smoking, fasting, vomiting or taking overweight.16 Yet, girls of this age were more likely to
weight-regulating drugs.15 see themselves as fat (34 per cent) than boys (24 per
In most rich countries, more than two in five adolescents are dissatisfied with their bodies
Figure 8: Percentage of adolescents aged 11, 13 and 15 years who say they are too fat or too thin
60
50
Average: 45%
40 16
Percentage
16
15
21
17
14
17
15
16
13
12
16
12
11
12
13
16
30
16
18
18
16
14
15
13
14
18
23
16
27
20
14
23
17
17
13
20
10
20
21
24
27
27
24
25
27
30
30
27
29
31
27
31
26
29
24
32
29
28
28
33
31
24
32
32
25
33
34
33
25
36
33
38
0
Iceland
Malta
Canada
Italy
UK (England)
Croatia
France
Ireland
Finland
Denmark
Sweden
UK (Wales)
Netherlands
Bulgaria
Greenland
Romania
Lithuania
Slovakia
UK (Scotland)
Slovenia
Portugal
Spain
Belgium (Flemish)
Switzerland
Israel
Hungary
Belgium (French)
Czechia
Latvia
Austria
Luxembourg
Greece
Germany
Estonia
Poland
Percentage of adolescents who think they are too fat Percentage of adolescents who think they are too thin
Source: Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) 2018.
1 6 I N N O C E N T I R E P O R T C A R D 1 6S E C T I O N 2 O U T C O M E S
cent). This suggests that many children with a healthy enormously (see Figure 9). It does not impact boys in
weight think they are fat, particularly girls. The numbers Bulgaria, where 1 in 10 boys is overweight. It is
are very similar at the ages of 11, 13 and 15 years, strongest for girls in Scotland (United Kingdom),
indicating that these negative feelings may have started Finland, the Netherlands and Ireland.
even before adolescence.
Girls who are satisfied with their bodies typically come
Body image is much more closely linked to life from families and peer groups who express fewer
satisfaction for girls. On average, body image explains weight-related concerns and emphasize positive body
10 per cent of the differences in life satisfaction of girls behaviours (such as exercising and eating well) as
and 5 per cent of the differences for boys. Yet the link opposed to negative behaviours (such as dieting).17
between body image and life satisfaction varies
The link between body image and life satisfaction is twice as strong for girls than boys
Figure 9: Percentage of differences in life satisfaction accounted for by body image
18
16
14
satisfaction related to body image
Percentage of differences in life
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
Bulgaria
Israel
Luxembourg
Slovakia
France
Belgium (Flemish)
Estonia
Belgium (French)
Italy
UK (England)
Romania
Hungary
Czechia
Greenland
Malta
Switzerland
Portugal
Poland
Lithuania
Croatia
Germany
Austria
Iceland
Slovenia
Canada
Latvia
Sweden
Denmark
Greece
Spain
UK (Wales)
Ireland
Netherlands
Finland
UK (Scotland)
Girls Boys
Notes: R-squared from regression model controlled for age with full weights. All regression coefficients significant at p=.01, apart from
for boys in Bulgaria.
Source: Health Behaviour in School-aged Children (HBSC) 2018 (weighted and clustered).
I N N O C E N T I R E P O R T C A R D 1 6 1 7S E C T I O N 2 O U T C O M E S
For educational achievement, we Many children still reach 15 years of age without having basic
focus on the proportion of children reading and mathematics skills
who meet basic standards of Figure 10: Percentage of children aged 15 years with basic
proficiency. We also take into proficiency in reading and mathematics
account the percentage of children
Estonia 79
who are still in school in each
Ireland 78
country at the age of 15. For this
Finland 78
purpose, we use Coverage Index 3
Slovenia 75
from the PISA study, which can be
Japan 73
viewed as a measure of verified
Germany 73
enrolment.18 Our indicator is the
Poland 72
estimated proportion of the total
Republic of Korea 70
child population who are still in
Denmark 69
school and have reached a basic
Czechia 69
level of proficiency in both reading
Belgium 69
and mathematics (see Figure 10). It
Norway 68
can be interpreted as a minimum
Canada 68
estimate of the level of proficiency
in the child population at 15 years Spain 67
of age. Even in the best-performing France 67
country, Estonia, more than one Netherlands 66
in five children do not meet the New Zealand 65
basic proficiency standard. In five Switzerland 65
countries, less than half of children Sweden 64
do so. Latvia 64
Australia 64
United Kingdom 63
Austria 63
Portugal 63
Iceland 62
Lithuania 61
Hungary 61
United States 60
Italy 58
Croatia 58
Malta 57
Luxembourg 56
Slovakia 54
Greece 53
Israel 48
Cyprus 45
Chile 40
Romania 34
Bulgaria 32
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
Estimated percentage of children aged 15 years who have basic
proficiency in both reading and mathematics
Note: The percentage of children meeting or exceeding basic proficiency in both reading and
mathematics tests, multiplied by the Coverage Index 3 of the PISA survey.
Source: Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2018, except for Spain (figures for Spain
from PISA 2015, as 2018 data were unavailable).
1 8 I N N O C E N T I R E P O R T C A R D 1 6S E C T I O N 2 O U T C O M E S
Our second indicator focuses on Many 15-year-old children do not feel confident in their skills to make friends
social skills. We use a question Figure 11: Percentage of children aged 15 years who make friends easily
asked in the PISA study about
whether children feel that they are Romania 83
able to make friends easily. We view Norway 82
this indicator as tapping into the Croatia 82
extent to which children feel Netherlands 81
confident in developing Spain 81
interpersonal relationships. This France 81
type of skill is likely to be beneficial Cyprus 81
to children both in the present and Italy 79
in adulthood in all aspect of their Belgium 79
lives. Figure 11 shows the Hungary 79
percentage of children who agreed
Denmark 79
or strongly agreed that they make
Slovenia 79
friends easily. Romania ranks
Switzerland 79
highest on this indicator and is one
Republic of Korea 77
of seven countries where more than
Sweden 77
four in five children felt that they
Austria 77
make friends easily. In two countries
Ireland 76
– Chile and Japan – less than 70 per
Portugal 76
cent of children felt this way.
Australia 76
Our analysis of this range of Luxembourg 75
important well-being outcomes Greece 75
presents a challenge to Finland 75
policymakers. While all countries Canada 74
can feel positive about their New Zealand 74
position in the rankings on one or
Bulgaria 74
more of these key indicators, none
Mexico 74
can feel satisfied with their position
United Kingdom 73
on all six. And even in countries at
Czechia 73
the top of the rankings, there are
Turkey 72
still many children who are falling
United States 72
behind. In subsequent sections, we
Germany 72
will try to understand what factors
Slovakia 72
lie behind these variations in child
Latvia 71
well-being outcomes and therefore
Lithuania 71
what improvements can be made.
We begin by looking at factors Malta 71
close to the child – their daily lives Estonia 71
and their closest relationships – Poland 70
and then gradually move outwards, Iceland 70
towards the broader conditions Japan 69
within societies that also have an Chile 68
impact on children’s experiences 0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90
and well-being. Percentage of children aged 15 years who make friends easily
Note: The percentage of children aged 15 years who agreed or strongly agreed that they make friends
easily at school.
Source: Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2018, except for Cyprus (figures for
Cyprus from PISA 2015, as 2018 data were unavailable) and Israel (no data available).
I N N O C E N T I R E P O R T C A R D 1 6 1 9S E C T I O N 3 T
H E W O R L D O F T H E C H I L D
SECTION 3
THE WORLD OF THE CHILD
How direct experiences differentiate child
well-being within countries
In this section and the next, we
look at the four levels of the
framework closest to outcomes, as
they can help us to understand
Context
why, within the same country,
some children have higher well-
being than others.19 We start with
Policies
‘the world of the child’: the
activities in which children are
involved and their relationships with
Resources people close to them such as
parents, peers and teachers.
Activities
Networks
Children’s activities inform us about
their daily lives. These activities
may not always be chosen by
ationships
Rel children and may reflect the
priorities of others, for example,
their parents. Indeed, children
Activities spend substantial amounts of time
in compulsory schooling. In 2018,
across OECD countries, the
average compulsory instruction
time per pupil in lower secondary
Outcomes school ranged from 766 hours per
year in Slovenia and Sweden to
1,200 hours per year in Denmark.20
International comparative studies of
The world of the child
children’s daily lives outside of
school are rare. We use new data
The world around the child on children’s activities in 15 rich
countries from the latest wave of
The world at large the Children’s Worlds survey.
Children were asked how often
during the last week they had done
2 0 I N N O C E N T I R E P O R T C A R D 1 6S E C T I O N 3 T
H E W O R L D O F T H E C H I L D
15 different activities – for example, Children who play outside often are happier than children who do not
helping around the home, doing Figure 12: Mean happiness scores of children who played outside rarely
homework, using a computer and and those who did so daily
spending time playing outside.
9.0
We were interested to see which of UK (Wales)
7.0
these activities were linked with
9.4
children’s sense of well-being, Poland
7.5
based on how happy they had felt
in the past two weeks. Here we 9.1
Finland
choose happiness rather than life 7.6
satisfaction as an indicator because 9.0
Israel
it is likely to be more closely 7.6
associated with factors that may
9.3
vary over time, such as activities. Estonia
7.8
The strongest link found was
9.5
between happiness and time spent Romania
8.1
with family.21 This is consistent with
other research showing the 9.7
Greece (Epirus)
importance of family relationships 8.3
for children. There were also strong 9.7
Malta
links between happiness and the 8.5
frequency of playing outside.22 In
9.3
comparison, other factors such as Hungary
8.1
social media use and doing
8.9
housework were weakly, and less Norway
7.8
often significantly, linked with
happiness. Figure 12 shows the 9.5
Italy (Liguria)
differences in happiness between 8.5
children who played outside rarely 9.0
Belgium (Flanders)
and those who did so daily. These 7.9
differences are large – more than 9.5
1 point on a happiness scale of Spain (Catalonia)
8.5
0 to 10 (from least to most happy) –
9.6
in almost every country. Croatia
8.9
This example illustrates how
9.1
children’s activities can be linked to Switzerland
8.6
their subjective experiences. Of
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
course, children do not necessarily
have a free choice about how they Mean happiness score (0 to 10)
spend their time. In line with our Daily Rarely
framework, this will be affected by
the resources and relationships Worlds data shows that all of these
around them. For example, how factors are indeed relevant. Children Notes: Children were asked how often they
played outside. They were also asked to rate their
often children play outside may were more likely to play outside if happiness in the past two weeks on a scale from
depend on parenting styles, cultural their parents involved them in
0 to 10 (least to most happy). The figure
compares the mean happiness scores for children
differences, family economic making decisions about their lives, if who said that they played outside less than once
a week and those who said they did so every day.
circumstances, and safety and they lived in more affluent families All differences significant (pS E C T I O N 3 T
H E W O R L D O F T H E C H I L D
Spotlight 3 Screen time has a small negative influence,
and other activities matter more for well-being
The amount of time children spend online is increasing But does more screen time have a negative impact on
rapidly. In the United States, the proportion of children’s well-being? Despite public concern about
adolescents who say they are connected “almost this issue, the link appears to be weak.25 Robust
constantly” has increased from 24 per cent to 45 per studies suggest that moderate use is key.26 In these
cent in three years.23 An additional 44 per cent report studies, the highest mental well-being was observed
using the Internet several times a day. In 11 European not among those children who reported no screen
countries, the amount of time children spend online use, but among those who used screens for less than
almost doubled in less than a decade: from an hour 2 hours per day.
and a half to almost three hours daily (see Figure 13). It
Moderate use (between 30 minutes and 3 hours per
is understandable that parents and educators may be
day, depending on device and timing) was associated
concerned about the impact of new technologies on
with the highest mental well-being. Children who did
children’s well-being.
Children are online almost twice as long than a decade ago
Figure 13: Average duration of Internet use in minutes per day among 9- to 16-year-olds
250
200
150
Minutes/day
100
50
0
Germany
Italy
France
Poland
Lithuania
Czechia
Estonia
Portugal
Romania
Spain
Norway
2010 2018/19
Notes: Values have been calculated based on questions about how long children use the Internet a) on a normal weekday, and b) on a weekend
or holiday (approximately 1,000 cases per country). Only children who actively use the Internet were asked to estimate its duration so the
increase is not fuelled by increased access to the Internet. For full reports about the surveys see Livingstone et al. (2011), and Smahel et al. (2020).24
For details of the methodology see www.eukidsonline.net.
Source: EU Kids Online.
2 2 I N N O C E N T I R E P O R T C A R D 1 6S E C T I O N 3 T
H E W O R L D O F T H E C H I L D
Children’s relationships
When asked about what matters to
their well-being, children emphasize
good-quality relationships.28 Survey
The impact of screen time is four times smaller than that of findings back this up, showing that
being bullied positive relationships with family,
Figure 14: Links between eight different activities and with peers and at school are linked
adolescent mental well-being
with higher well-being in one or
more dimensions.29
Regularly eating breakfast
Family relationships
Comparative data on children’s
Cycling
family relationships are scarce. The
Getting enough sleep
Health Behaviour in School-aged
Children (HBSC) survey, covering
Eating fruit
most European countries plus
Canada, asks children aged 11, 13
Technology use
and 15 years four questions about
how much they feel helped and
Binge drinking supported by their family: whether
their family tries to help them;
Wearing glasses whether they get the emotional
help and support they need from
Being bullied their family; whether they can talk
about problems with their family;
-0.25 -0.20 -0.15 -0.10 -0.05 0 0.05 0.10 0.15 0.20 0.25 and whether their family is willing
Effect of a given activity on adolescent well-being to help them make decisions.
Notes: The chart shows median standardized coefficients from the specification curve We averaged the responses to
analysis based on the UK Millennium Cohort Study. The sample included 5,926 girls and these four questions to create an
5,946 boys aged 13–15 and 10,605 primary caregivers. Technology use was measured
through five questions concerning TV use, electronic games, social media use, owning indicator of the quality of family
a computer and using the Internet at home.
Source: Orben, Amy and Andrew K. Przybylski, 'The association between adolescent
relationships, defining those
well-being and digital technology use', Nature Human Behaviour, vol. 3, no. 2, February children who scored below the
2019, pp. 173–182.
midpoint (which means they were
more likely, on average, to disagree
than agree) as having poor-quality
not use technology, as well as those who were very intensive users, had
relationships. Across 35 countries
lower well-being. The impact of technology has been shown to be time-
specific – stronger on school days than on weekends. This may reflect
and territories included in this
greater pressures on children during the days when they attend school. report, the percentage of children
who had poor-quality family
However, the impact of screen time should be put into perspective and relationships ranged from 6 per
assessed against other real-world benchmarks. An analysis of data from the
cent in Hungary, the Netherlands
United States and the United Kingdom suggests that the overall link
and Norway to over 30 per cent
between technology use and adolescent mental well-being is negative but
in Bulgaria.
small, explaining only 0.4 per cent of the differences in mental well-being.27
Many common activities that do not draw as much media attention – such
as eating breakfast, cycling or getting enough sleep – have a larger
association with adolescent mental well-being (see Figure 14). Among
negative factors, screen time had an association with adolescent well-being
four times less strong than that of being bullied.
I N N O C E N T I R E P O R T C A R D 1 6 2 3S E C T I O N 3 T
H E W O R L D O F T H E C H I L D
In all countries, children who have less supportive families tend to have Figure 15 shows the link between
poorer emotional well-being the quality of family relationships
Figure 15: Emotional well-being of 15-year-olds according to the quality of and children’s emotional well-being.
their family relationships Emotional well-being is measured
by four questions about the
Germany frequency of children feeling low;
Netherlands feeling irritable or in a bad temper;
Belgium (Flemish) feeling nervous; and having difficulty
Spain
sleeping. In all countries, children
who reported having supportive
Austria
family relationships were also
Switzerland more likely to have good emotional
Norway well-being. The link between
Croatia supportive family relationships and
Luxembourg emotional well-being was much
stronger in some countries, like
Lithuania
Luxembourg and Portugal, than in
Canada others such as Iceland and Scotland
Slovenia (United Kingdom).
Finland
Peer relationships
Ireland
Peer relationships become
Portugal increasingly important for children’s
Iceland well-being as they grow up.30 There
Czechia is no good indicator of the overall
quality of peer relationships for all
Slovakia
41 countries. This is another major
UK (Wales)
evidence gap. The PISA study does,
Greenland however, contain information on
Estonia children’s experiences of being
Latvia bullied at school. Being bullied is
associated with children’s
Hungary
subjective well-being, particularly in
France
certain European countries.31
UK (England)
Belgium (French)
Notes: Excludes Denmark (no data), and England
UK (Scotland) (UK), Slovakia and Wales (UK) (over 10 per cent
missing data). An index was created from the
Sweden mean response to four statement-based questions:
(1) My family really tries to help me; (2) I get the
Malta emotional help and support I need from my family;
(3) I can talk about my problems with my family;
Romania and (4) My family is willing to help me make
decisions. Children were asked to indicate to what
Poland extent they agreed with each statement. The
percentages are of children who scored below the
Israel
midpoint on this index – i.e., were more likely, on
Greece average, to disagree than agree. The indicator of
emotional well-being is constructed from four
Italy questions about how often children felt low, felt
nervous, had difficulty sleeping, and felt irritable or
Bulgaria in a bad temper. Children are classified as having
low emotional well-being if they had more than one
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100 of these experiences more than once a week. All
differences are significant (pYou can also read
