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Kids are bright, but not happy
By Stephen Lunn
February 15, 2007 12:00am
Article from: The Australian
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AUSTRALIAN teenagers rank third among industrialised countries for reading, mathematical and scientific literacy, but are below-average for overall material wellbeing.
In the first study of its kind, the UN Children's Fund has produced a league table gauging the quality of life for children across the developed world, coming to the surprising conclusion that the US and Britain rank second-last and last of the 21 nations.
North European countries dominated the ratings, with The Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark heading the list, which amalgamates figures on poverty, health and education, and asks young people about their own sense of wellbeing.
Australia was not included in the final table because of insufficient data in some measures, but in a number of categories it fared better than economies such as New Zealand, the US and Britain.
Besides Australia's third ranking behind Finland and Canada in educational achievement for 15-year-olds in maths, reading and science, only 4 per cent of Australian children reported having less than 10 books in their home, placing it sixth-best in the world in this category. In the US, 12 per cent of households have fewer than 10 books.
Overall, the report, titled An Overview of Child Wellbeing in Rich Countries, found Australia at mid-table, dragged down by its high proportion (more than 9 per cent) of children who live in households where neither parent works. On that measure, Australia ranked second-last, ahead of only Hungary.
The study found little relationship between a country's wealth, measured in gross domestic product per capita, and the quality of life for its children.
The league table was an important benchmark against which to test the commitment of governments to children, UNICEF research centre director Marta Santos Pais said.
"A country cannot be said to be doing the best it can for its children if other countries at a similar stage of economic development are doing much better - and that's what the league tables are designed to show," Ms Santos Pais said.
The report assessed children's health and safety, using measures such as infant mortality, low birthweight, immunisation levels and childhood deaths by accident, finding Australia ranked below-average but better than Britain and the US. Sweden and Iceland topped the category.
By Stephen Lunn
February 15, 2007 12:00am
Article from: The Australian
Font size: + -
Send this article: Print Email
AUSTRALIAN teenagers rank third among industrialised countries for reading, mathematical and scientific literacy, but are below-average for overall material wellbeing.
In the first study of its kind, the UN Children's Fund has produced a league table gauging the quality of life for children across the developed world, coming to the surprising conclusion that the US and Britain rank second-last and last of the 21 nations.
North European countries dominated the ratings, with The Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark heading the list, which amalgamates figures on poverty, health and education, and asks young people about their own sense of wellbeing.
Australia was not included in the final table because of insufficient data in some measures, but in a number of categories it fared better than economies such as New Zealand, the US and Britain.
Besides Australia's third ranking behind Finland and Canada in educational achievement for 15-year-olds in maths, reading and science, only 4 per cent of Australian children reported having less than 10 books in their home, placing it sixth-best in the world in this category. In the US, 12 per cent of households have fewer than 10 books.
Overall, the report, titled An Overview of Child Wellbeing in Rich Countries, found Australia at mid-table, dragged down by its high proportion (more than 9 per cent) of children who live in households where neither parent works. On that measure, Australia ranked second-last, ahead of only Hungary.
The study found little relationship between a country's wealth, measured in gross domestic product per capita, and the quality of life for its children.
The league table was an important benchmark against which to test the commitment of governments to children, UNICEF research centre director Marta Santos Pais said.
"A country cannot be said to be doing the best it can for its children if other countries at a similar stage of economic development are doing much better - and that's what the league tables are designed to show," Ms Santos Pais said.
The report assessed children's health and safety, using measures such as infant mortality, low birthweight, immunisation levels and childhood deaths by accident, finding Australia ranked below-average but better than Britain and the US. Sweden and Iceland topped the category.