Posted on 02/18/2007 11:07:03 AM PST by peggybac
BERLIN -- The United States and Britain ranked at the bottom of a U.N. survey of child welfare in 21 rich countries that assessed everything from infant mortality to whether children ate dinner with their parents or were bullied at school.
The Netherlands, followed by Sweden, Denmark and Finland, finished at the top while the U.S. was 20th and Britain 21st in the rankings released Wednesday by UNICEF in Berlin.
One of the study's researchers, Jonathan Bradshaw, said children fared worse in the U.S. and Britain -- despite high overall levels of national wealth -- because of greater economic inequality and poor levels of public support for families.
"What they have in common are very high levels of inequality, very high levels of child poverty, which is also associated with inequality, and in rather different ways poorly developed services to families with children," said Bradshaw, a professor of social policy at the University of York in northeast England.
"They don't invest as much in children as continental European countries do," he said.
Bradshaw cited thin day care services in both countries, and poorer health coverage and preventative care for children in the U.S.
The study gave the U.S. and Britain low marks for the high number of single-parent families and the incidence of risky behaviors among children, such as drinking alcohol and sexual activity.
The U.S. was 20th and Britain 21st in the category focusing on relationships, based on the percentage of children who lived in single-parent homes or with stepparents, as well as the number who ate the main meal of the day at least once a week with their families. That category also counted the proportion of children who said they had "kind" or "helpful" relationships with other children.
In Washington, U.S. State Department spokesman Paul Denig was highly critical of the report, noting that the authors acknowledged in effect that their data "does not support their conclusions and rankings."
The report's authors cautioned that the focus on single-parent families "may seem unfair and insensitive" and noted that many children do well with one parent.
"But at the statistical level, there is evidence to associate growing up in single-parent families with greater risk to well-being -- including a greater risk of dropping out of school, of leaving home early, poorer health, low skills and of low pay," they said.
Eighty percent of the children in the countries surveyed live with both parents, but with wide variations, from over 90 percent in Greece and Italy to less than 70 percent in Britain and 60 percent in the U.S., where 16 percent of adolescent children lived with stepfamilies.
Bob Reitemeier, chief executive of The Children's Fund charity in Britain, pointed to surveys showing that fewer than half of British children reported good relations with their peers.
"That really jumped off the page," he said, citing concerns about the competitive, ratings-based school environment in Britain and higher reported incidence of bullying and fighting. "The environment for these young people is quite negative."
The study ranked the countries in six categories, based on national statistics: material well-being, health and safety, education, peer and family relationships, behaviors and risks, and young people's own subjective sense of well-being. Both the U.S. and Britain were in the bottom two-thirds of five of the six categories.
The U.S. finished last in the health and safety category, based on infant mortality, vaccinations for childhood diseases, deaths from injuries and accidents before age 19, and whether children reported fighting in the previous 12 months or being bullied in the previous two months.
Britain finished at the bottom in behaviors and risks, which considered factors such as the percentage of children who had breakfast, ate fruit regularly, exercised, were overweight, used drugs or alcohol, were sexually active or became pregnant.
The British government criticized the report, saying it did not take account of recent improvements to education, and living and health standards. Some of the statistics went back as far as 2001.
"In many cases, the data used is several years old and does not reflect more recent improvements such as the continuing fall in the teenage pregnancy rate or in the proportion of children living in workless households," said a spokeswoman for Britain's Department for Education and Skills, on customary condition of anonymity.
British lawmaker Annette Brooke, a Liberal Democrat, said the report reflected a "shameful level of child poverty" in Britain.
"It is shocking that we are doing so badly at bringing up our children," Brooke said. "Every child should be entitled to live in a stable, loving family environment."
In general, northern European countries dominated the upper half of the table, with the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark and Finland claiming the top four places. Southern European countries such as Spain and Portugal ranked higher in terms of family support and levels of trust with friends and peers.
Spain came in fifth, Germany 11th, Canada 12th and France 16th. (AP)
Maybe illegals will stop wanting or trying to invade the United States.
Why does every "problem" spawn a whole new set of entitlements? Is that all the liberals think of?
Why do we fund this crap with our tax dollars ???????
I wonder which countries give the most money to UNICEF.
I'll translate the UNICEF-speak into plain english; socialism good, U.S. bad.
Children are a scarce commodity in the dying nations of Western and Northern Europe. They can afford to invest more money in these dwindling number of kids in the short because, perversely, these nations are trundling toward demographic extinction. The last ethnic European child standing will be a billionaire with nothing to spend it on.
"Why do we fund this crap with our tax dollars ???????"
I agree - just why are we still a part of this hateful organization?
Once again, there's a crisis and the only possible solution is to become Socialist. Child Welfare, Global Warming, International Debt Relief, AIDS, you name it. The solution to all these problems, according to these people, is Socialism.
Agenda driven nonsense, next?
In short... the sole criterion seems to be the lack of a pervasive socialist social structure.
Individual freedom, and the choice to succeed or fail, isn't even on the radar for these "Brave New Worlders".
Oh yes; The corrupt, incompetent and ineffectual UN is my source of all world wisdom!
< /sarc >
40% of American children live in a single parent home.
"But at the statistical level, there is evidence to associate growing up in single-parent families with greater risk to well-being -- including a greater risk of dropping out of school, of leaving home early, poorer health, low skills and of low pay," they said.
I'm kind of confused why they included the following statement,
"where 16 percent of adolescent children lived with stepfamilies."
Good, I am now vindicated for making sure my giving money stayed close to home. America is the scene of a problem.
Besides: Screw the UN, UNESCO, UNISCAM (I made that one up) and the whole bunch.
To the Euro-trash social engineers who compiled this report, inequality is prima facie evidence of injustice. They disregard the fact that the average "poor" person in this country is a big fat lazy lard-ass with a car, a plasma TV, air conditioning, and a higher household income than the median in Sweden. Because the rest of us are doing better than that, they feel compelled to tear us down.
If "poverty" in this country meant an income of a million a year, but half of us were making over a billion a year, they would get the same results on their cherry-picked scale of well-being. They prefer the equally shared squalor of Cuba.
Disregard the communist scum and their propaganda.
-ccm
Nicely stated. However, you should have added "and Democrats" after "Euro-trash" to state the full truth.
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