Children Disadvantaged in the US and UK

According to a recent release from UNICEF that compared the level of children’s wellbeing in the 21 economically advanced countries the US and the UK hold the last two places according to the report. The report was harsh in highlighting the fact that the children in these two countries, “are poorer, get on worse with their parent, and take more risks.” However, what is demonstrated is being rich is not a remedy from falling behind in children’s wellbeing as a mild performing nation like Czech Republic has outranked rich countries such the U.S., Japan, and Germany. The six factors used to measure the well-being of the children according to the report were material well-being, behavior and risks, self-perceived subjective well-being, healthy and safety, and education. The finding concluded no one nation met all the six requirements although there were areas they were better than others. The report has portrayed the UK in a bad light more than any other nation saying the end result is the children are most likely to use drugs, drink alcohol or be sexually active than elsewhere.

The British however have said the finding is based on outdated statistics whereas now a lot improvements have been made. The area where the U.S. fall behind most was health and safety, that was reflected by high rate of infant mortality, low birth weight, immunization, and death from accidents according the UNICIF report. Germany scored 11 to the dismay of those who are responsible for social policy. The areas that was highlighted in the case of Germany was the children are ahead of everyone in the world when it comes to smoking and at least 40% of the children said that their parent do not have time for them. The conclusion is being born in the richest countries is not a guarantee that the children will get proper upbringing.