Wealth can't always buy child well-being, UNICEF study finds[fr][de] 

A United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) study  measuring and comparing child well-being in the OECD countries gives top position to the Netherlands. Also, the small Nordic countries rank in the top five, whereas the UK and US find themselves in the bottom third of rankings for most of the different indicators reviewed.

The study, published on 14 February 2007, compared six different criteria - material well-being, health and safety, education, relationships, behaviours and risks, and young people's sense of their own well-being - in 21 countries. The scope of the study is, however, limited as not enough internationally comparable data exist. Furthermore, key areas such as mental and emotional health, child neglect and abuse are omitted. 

"OECD countries find themselves with widely differing rankings for different criteria," said Marta Santos Pais, director of the UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre, and the report stresses that no strong relationship between GDP per capita and child well-being exists.

The study's findings prompted the president of the Party of European Socialists, Poul Nyrup Rasmusses, to praise the "Nordic social model as the best for children with regard health and poverty". The Nordic countries' scores in family and peer relationships or in subjective well-being of young people, however, are not very positive, and Italy wins in the category of "best relationships".