Remember the children

The  rise in children’s well-being has gone into reverse. The economic downturn is leaving millions of young Britons mired in insecurity, unhappiness and isolation according to a study by the Children’s Society. The report is based on economic and social data alongside interviews with 42,000 children.

 1.2 million children now have a sense of low well-being and a fifth – 2.4 million young people – can be defined as failing to “flourish” in terms of their life satisfaction. The decline is particularly marked among teenagers aged 14 and 15, who were found to have the lowest life satisfaction of all children.

In 2007, Unicef put Britain at the bottom of a league table for child well-being across 21 countries. The latest assessment by the UN’s children’s agency found the UK had climbed to 16 out of 29 countries, placing it behind Slovenia and Portugal. But it highlighted persistent problems with Britain’s high rates of teenage pregnancy, numbers of young people out of work and education, and one of the worst alcohol abuse records among 11 to 15-year-olds. It warned young people’s situation was “expected to worsen” as a result of the austerity programme. The Children’s Commissioner for England reported last month that more than 500,000 more children will be forced into poverty by 2015 because of tax policies and benefit changes, with the poorest children the worst hit by welfare reforms.