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- Switzerland scores well in a study by the child welfare organization Unicef on child welfare: it ranks fourth.
- Children in Switzerland are mentally healthy, have a good physique and a high level of education.
Child welfare is highest in the Netherlands, followed by Denmark, Norway, Switzerland, and Finland. Countries like Chile, Bulgaria and the US are at the lower end of the scale, according to the study published today by the Unicef Innocenti research center. Germany ranks 14th, while Austria ranks 16th.
Many rich countries fail
According to the study, 82 percent of girls and boys in Switzerland are very satisfied with their lives. In the Netherlands it is 90 per cent, in France 80 per cent and in Germany 75 per cent. In Austria, 77 percent of children say they are happy.
Many of the richest countries in the world … fail when it comes to giving all children a good childhood.
“Many of the richest countries in the world, which actually have enough resources, fail when it comes to allowing all children to have a good childhood,” Gunilla Olsson, director of UNICEF Innocenti, is quoted in the statement. Mental problems, obesity and insufficient school knowledge shape the daily lives of children in many rich industrialized countries.
There is a threat of deterioration due to a pandemic
UNICEF also warns of serious dangers to the well-being of the child due to the corona pandemic. If governments do not act quickly and decisively, children are threatened by increasing poverty and deteriorating physical and mental health.
For the study, comparable national data were collected from 41 OECD countries and the European Union on children’s mental and physical health, their school and social skills, and general social conditions.
