How does your country measure up as a place to raise kids?
UNICEF studied all the wealthiest nations (full report PDF here), and the US and UK came in at the bottom on almost all indicators (material wellbeing, health and safety, education, family and peer relationships, behaviours and risks, and the subjective feelings of kids and teens themselves ). Doing best for kids were the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark and Finland. It turns out that GDP and material wealth alone does not ensure healthier or happier or more well-educated kids--the Czech Republic scored very well despite being one of the poorest nations surveyed.
Belgium ranks 10th, which is not a bad place, given the very bad scoring on "Health and Safety" and "Behaviours and Risks"... the overall positive position is balanced by 1st position on education. However, this is a still a series wake-up call to our politicians...
