Netherlands tops child well-being ranking

Wealth alone does not guarantee children’s well-being, with many rich
countries witnessing declines in children’s life satisfaction, mental
health and academic proficiency since the Covid-19 pandemic

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36

Netherlands
Denmark
France
Portugal
Ireland
Switzerland
Spain
Croatia
Italy
Sweden
Hungary
Austria
Slovenia
Japan
Lithuania
Romania
Finland
Czechia
Canada
Slovakia
UK
Iceland
Latvia
Greece
Germany
Malta
South Korea
Bulgaria
Poland
Estonia
Costa Rica
New Zealand
Colombia
Mexico
Türkiye
Chile
Australia
Belgium
Israel
Norway
U.S.

1
3
11
2
24
13
4
9
8
14
6
16
28
32
20
5
21
25
23
12
27
26
22
7
18
15
34
10
30
33
17
36
29
19
35
31
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a
n/a

4
3
2
10
11
7
25
31
16
13
30
20
18
1
17
32
23
5
24
29
22
6
15
27
14
21
28
34
19
26
36
35
39
41
37
40
33
8
12
9
38

11
8
9
22
1
6
16
3
23
14
13
7
2
12
17
26
18
31
21
27
15
28
32
35
34
36
4
33
30
24
39
25
38
41
37
40
20
5
19
10
29

Overall
ranking

Mental
wellbeing

Physical
health

Skills

RANKING COMPONENTS
(OECD and EU countries)

Mental well-being: Life satisfaction
and adolescent suicide rate

Physical health: Child mortality and
percentage of children overweight

Skills: Academic proficiency (reading/
maths) and social skills

HOW SIMPLY TALKING WITH
PARENTS CAN IMPROVE A
CHILD’S LIFE SATISFACTION
(%)

Never or
almost
never

About once
or twice a
year

About once
or twice a
month

About once
or twice a
week

Every day
or almost

55
62
64
68
79

Due to lack of available data, Cyprus and Luxembourg are omitted. Likewise, it was not possible
to fully rank Australia, Belgium, Israel, Norway and U.S. due to missing “satisfaction” data
Source: UNICEF
Picture: Ninian Carter
© GRAPHIC NEWS