Posted on 02/14/2007 3:56:18 AM PST by Tulsa Ramjet
Britain and the United States are the worst places in the industrialised world for children to live, according to a report by the United Nations Children's Fund (Unicef).
They ranked among the bottom third in the study which looked at overall well-being, health and safety, education, relationships, risk and their own sense of well-being.
The study said that child poverty - defined as the percentage of children living in homes with incomes below 50 per cent of the national median - remains above the 15 per cent mark in Britain, the US and Ireland, as well as Spain, Portugal and Italy.
"The evidence from many countries persistently shows that children who grow up in poverty are more vulnerable," the report said, especially in terms of academic underachievement, chances of unemployment and low self-esteem.
Child well-being was rated highest in northern Europe, with the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark leading the list.
"All countries have weaknesses that need to be addressed and no country features in the top third of the rankings for all six dimensions," David Bull, the UK executive director of Unicef, said.
Risk behaviours
Britain lived up to its reputation for "binge-drinking," hazardous sexual activity and drug use, with the report putting the country at the bottom of the rankings for risk behaviours "by a considerable distance".
(Excerpt) Read more at english.aljazeera.net ...
When do we see some rock star begging for money for poor kids in Alabama.What a bunch of commie bs.
So, this reporter and the UNICEF folks have never been to a third world country other than for a vacation. Thinks that make you say hmmmmm!
yeah bono, howsabout a bone in ol' allybammy?
"So, this reporter and the UNICEF folks have never been to a third world country other than for a vacation."
What? and step off that plane to get struck by the unbearable heat and stench of dead bodies, burning tires, and murderous flies? Maybe for a night or two for the ol resume', but otherwise all other nations beside the US and UK are doing well. I guess that's why so many mexicans are trying to sneak in with their kids. It is soooo horrible here.
Mexico had better immediately take steps to seal its borders.
US, UK are worse than Sudan?
Oh. Oh, it's Al Jizm. "To be a slave in Islam is noble."
The bottom 2% in the US still live better than 90% of the global population.
This study is just a waste.
The study said that child poverty - defined as the percentage of children living in homes with incomes below 50 per cent of the national median
That is about the dumbest measure of poverty I have ever encountered. On this basis the kids in Mexico and any poor country are much better off than the kids in the US.
Time to audit UNICEF's books.
Probably a rice-voucher-cash-for-positive-child-reviews scandal brewing.
some UNICEF staffer had been drinking hard when they wrote this.
Poor people in the United States have cars, cable TV, cell phones, iPods, and are often fat. Show me another country where they have fat poor people with new iPods. (Hint: Ryhmes with "the UK")
I've been all over the world. Most Americans can't grasp what real poverty is. Many happy, middle class people in other countries live with less material comfort than our own poor. UNICEF should be embarassed to release such a crock. Who gives a rat's ass what the 'median' is? By definition, half of the people will be living under the fifty percent mark, anyway. If America was half billionaires and half millionaires, then by this idiotic study, millioniaires would be living below the poverty line. That doesn't take into account what you can buy with that million dollars.
Remember those long-ago Halloweens collecting UNICEF money for the poor kids of the world? It turns out that those little bastards should have been collecting money for us instead!!
Uh huh.....
Best to be raised in a loving place like Palastine where Mom kisses your illiterate noggen while buttoning up your adolescent bomb vest /sarc
That damned Scrappleface is at it again :-)
"Who gives a rat's ass what the 'median' is?"
Yeah. Besides, at least in America if you don't have it, you can 'jack someone down the street and take it. What do you get bustin a AK cap in a mullah in Tehran?.....a diseased goat and a stinky head wrap?
US out of the UN
UN out of the US
They still haven't carried the Anna Nicole story. They got nothing on Greta.
the world will not end with a bang, or whimper, or cleavage, but a JDAM focused on a group sharing a hooka pipe.
That's pretty funny! Many of those "poor" kids have cell phones, TVs, ipods, computers, toilets in the house, houses, schools, LeBron James shoes, etc. Poor people in other parts of the world have a piece of cloth. The better off ones might have a drinking cup.
As far as binge drinking goes, it's much harder to do in Muzzle'em countries. Their solution to a lot of vices is death.
Then their are the rapes by UN personnel.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.