A recent
United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) report ranked the United States #26 out of 29 developed countries in terms of overall child well-being. (Only Lithuania, Latvia, and Romania ranked lower.) The report rated the countries based on children’s (1) material well-being, (2) health and safety, (3) education, (4) behaviors and risks, and (5) housing and environment. The Netherlands ranked #1 overall, followed by Iceland, Finland, Norway, and Sweden.
Of the countries included in the report, the U.S.:
- had the highest teenage birth rate;
- had the highest percentage of overweight young people based on BMI (body mass index) although it had the second highest percentage of young people who reported at least one hour of moderate to intense physical activity per day;
- was among only three countries that had childhood obesity levels higher than 20% (the other two being Canada and Greece; and
- was one of four countries where the incidence of low birth rate exceed 8%, the other three are Greece, Hungary, Portugal.
However, not all of the news was bad. The U.S. had the lowest reported incidence of alcohol abuse by young people and it was among the four countries with the lowest reported incidence of cigarette smoking by young people.
