At the other end of the scale, children were found to be happiest in the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark and Finland. Lack of data made it impossible for Turkey to be included in the UN study, but some of the report’s findings and the issues it raises will interest the Turkish authorities, who have recently expressed alarm at the rise of juvenile crime and school violence.
State Minister Nimet Cubukcu, in charge of women and family affairs, told parliament on Monday that the number of children who are being taken into protective custody because of sexual abuse, drug addiction or criminal behavior was rising rapidly. Economic and social changes, as well as migration and unemployment were some of the factors which affected children, the minister said.
Similar social challenges were highlighted in the UNICEF study, which focused on six different areas: material well-being; health and safety; educational well-being; family and peer relations; behavior and risks; and the adolescents’ self-perception of well-being.
The report showed that material well-being was not directly linked to GDP per capita. Poverty was assessed not just in the absolute sense, but also in relative terms, as when income falls below 50 percent of the national median. Child poverty is about inequality and exclusion, and young people experience deprivation when they fall behind the average standard of living in their own environment. This threshold varies between countries, and even within countries. Hungary, for instance, has lower child poverty than the US, and yet the median income for a family of four is $7,000 there against $24,000 in the States.
The share of GDP allocated to family and social benefit does matter, however. In countries which allocate more than 10 percent of GDP to social transfers, child poverty remained below 10 percent.
Educational attainment, access to health services were also measured in the survey, but one of the most striking areas of the study focused on young people’s relationships. Fighting and bullying clearly affects children a great deal: overall 40 percent of adolescents surveyed reported at least one physical fight in the past year. Bullying was lowest in Sweden and the Czech Republic, but over 40 percent in Switzerland, Austria and Portugal.
Controversially, the report suggested there was evidence that single-parent families and step-families present a greater risk for the wellbeing of child, but the quality of time spent with parents is what really seems to matter. While on average two-thirds of children surveyed still eat regularly with their parents; nonetheless in many families, the members do not communicate with each other. Germany ranked lowest in this category, with only about 50 percent of 15 year-olds reporting that their parents regularly spent time talking to them. Modern life has not reduced children’s need to feel loved and valued.
A high percentage of very young people, particularly in the UK, were found to engage in dangerous behavior, using drugs, getting drunk often or having unprotected sex at a young age. In Japan, some 30 percent of children reported feeling lonely. Overall, Nordic countries had the best results, but no country can claim to have successfully addressed the problems young people face today. The family, the society, and the perception of childhood are all changing a great deal, and everywhere. New approaches are needed to nurture the next generation.
