NZ children rate poorly in OECD: UNICEF report

New Zealand children have rated poorly in a United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) report designed to monitor and compare the performance of economically advanced countries in securing the rights of their children.

The report assessed five aspects of children's lives: material well-being; health and safety; education; behaviours and risks; and housing and environment, using data from Statistics New Zealand, the Ministry of Social Development and previous OCED reports. New Zealand:

• Ranked 24 out of 35 countries for general homicide
• Ranked 32 out of 34 countries for young people who are not in any form of education, training or employment
• Ranked 21 out of 35 countries for levels of child poverty

UNICEF New Zealand's national advocacy manager Barbara Lambourn said, "Most child homicides happen within the family and that's also really concerning. How we're actually looking after families and making sure that they have the resources they need to do well for every member of the family - particularly the most vulnerable - and that's got to be the children."

NZFVC has recently released two Issues Papers exporing the impacts on children of child maltreatment, intimate partner violence and parenting.

Download the report: UNICEF Office of Research (2013). ‘Child Well-being in Rich Countries: A comparative overview’, Innocenti Report Card 11, UNICEF Office of Research, Florence.

Media

'NZ ranked poorly on child welfare', Radio NZ, 10/4/13

'NZ children score poorly in UNICEF report', NZ Herald, 10/4/13

'UNICEF slams NZ's child well-being stats', Stuff, 10/4/13

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