Child well-being in the UK in a comparative perspective

Jonathan Bradshaw

CRSP Conference 2006 ‘A Fairer Society? A Review of Policies for Vulnerable Groups’. Holly Park Conference Centre , Loughborough University,

20 September 2006

Outline

Background Trends in child well-being in the UK Comparison of child well-being in the EU Conclusion

Background: UK policy

Follows on from Robert’s paper on child poverty UK government also much preoccupied with child well-

being as well as poverty: Every Child Matters; Opportunity for All.

Elaborate raft of policy measures: Cash/tax benefits Increased expenditure on children:

education, health child care etc

Children’s Society

Good Childhood Inquiry Involvement of the Happiness Tsar – Lord Layard Children’s Commissioner for England

Public Health Observatory report on Child Health (forthcoming)

Background: our previous research UK chapter for Cornia and Danziger

(UNICEF) ESRC Poverty the outcomes for children

(2001) SC(UK) The well-being of children in the UK

(2002) SC(UK) The well-being of children in the UK

(2005)

Background: international policy

International comparisons by UNICEF Innocenti Report Cards

But the child is absent from EU – lack of “competence”

Lisbon summit introduces social inclusion – child could come in

But Laeken indicators of social inclusion include only two indicators

Relative child poverty rates

% children living in workless families

Background: international developments

Luxembourg Presidency: Atkinson recommends “child mainstreaming” and development of child well-being indicators

EUROSTAT and Social Protection Committee cautious and reluctant

Suggestion that one extra indicator on educational attainment might be added

So We develop of an index of child well-being based on

existing comparative data sources (forthcoming Journal of Social Indicators)

and UNICEF Innocenti Report Card 7 on child poverty and well-being in rich countries 2006

Outline

Background Trends in child well-being in the UK Comparison of child well-being in the EU Conclusion

Getting better

Income poverty and % children in workless families

Health: IMR, accidental deaths, reported health, use of contraceptives, suicides.

Childcare and out of school places Education: qualifications, NEET, Truancy,

Key Stage 2 and 3, school exclusions Housing conditions

No change

Health: Child mortality, infectious diseases, risky sexual behaviour, teenage conceptions, self reported long standing illness

Playing sport Youth crime Drug use Key stage 1

Getting worse

Still births, class dispersion in IMR, low birth weight, vaccination, STDs, asthma, diabetes, alcohol, obesity, conduct disorders

Play Long term looked after Girls offending Child homelessness

Outline

Background Trends in child well-being in the UK Comparison of child well-being in the

EU Conclusion

Conceptualisation of child well-being

Multi-dimensional approach Based on children’s rights as outlined in the

UN CRC Drawing on national and multi-national

experiences in indicator development

Data Sources I: Surveys

WHO Health Behaviour of School Aged Children (HBSC) 36 countries at 2001

Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 32 countries at 2000, 41 at 2003

European Social Survey (ESS) 22 countries at 2002

Citizenship and Education Survey (CIVED) 28 countries at 1999 and EUYOUPART (2005)

European School Survey Project on Alcohol and other Drugs (ESPAD) 26 countries at 2003

European Quality of Life Survey (EQLS) 28 countries at 2003

Data Sources II: Series

WHO mortality data base 1993-1999, all countries except DK & CY

World Bank World Development Indicators 2003, all countries

OECD (2004) Education at a Glance, 2002 data Eurostat (2003) Population and Social Conditions Eurostat (2004) Labour Force Survey World Bank (2002) Health, Nutrition and Population

Data

Structure

51 variables organised into 23 domains making 8 clusters

Material situation Housing Health Subjective well-being Education Children’s relationships Civic Participation Risk and safety

Overall child well-being

85 90 95 100 105 110 115

Cyprus Netherlands Sw eden Denmark

Finland Spain

Slovenia Belgium

Germany Luxembourg

Ireland Austria France Malta Italy

Greece Poland Portugal

Czech Republic Hungary

United Kingdom Slovak Republic

Latvia Estonia Lithuania

12

34

56

78

910

1112

1314

1516

1718

1920

2122

2324

25

Child well-being by child poverty

At risk of poverty rate (60% of median equivalised income after social t

403020100

Child

well-

bein

g o

vera

ll by d

om

ain

120

110

100

90

80

UK

SE

ESSI

SK

PTPL

NL

LU

LT

LV

ITIE

HU GRDE

FR

FI

EE

DK

CZ

CY

BEAT

R=-0.55

Material situation

Relative child income poverty Child poverty rate Child poverty gaps

Child deprivation Lacking car, own bedroom, holidays last year,

a computer Lacking a desk, quiet for study, a computer,

calculator, dictionary, text books Less than ten books in the home

Parental worklessness

Material situation

75 80 85 90 95 100 105 110 115 120 125

Cyprus Sw eden

Finland Slovenia

Luxembourg Denmark

Austria Spain

Czech Republic Netherlands

France Germany

Portugal Hungary

Italy Latvia

Greece Belgium Ireland

United Kingdom Estonia Lithuania Poland Malta

Slovak Republic

12

34

56

78

910

1112

1314

1516

1718

1920

2122

2324

25

Overall well-being and material well-being

Material situation cluster score

1201101009080

Child

well-

bein

g o

vera

ll by d

om

ain

120

110

100

90

80

UK

SE

ES SI

SK

PTPL

NL

MTLU

LT

LV

ITIE

HUGRDE

FR

FI

EE

DK

CZ

CY

BEAT

R=0.73

Child health

75 80 85 90 95 100 105 110 115 120 125

Sw eden Netherlands Denmark

Czech Republic Cyprus Poland Finland Lithuania Portugal

Germany Luxembourg

Estonia Spain

France Slovenia

Italy Slovak Republic

Latvia Ireland

Belgium Austria

Hungary United Kingdom

Malta Greece

12

34

56

78

910

1112

1314

1516

1718

1920

2122

2324

25

Education

80 85 90 95 100 105 110 115 120

Belgium Sw eden Denmark

Finland Poland

Netherlands Ireland

Latvia Germany

Czech Republic

Slovak Republic Hungary

United Kingdom

France Spain

Greece Austria

Portugal Italy

Luxembourg

12

34

56

78

910

1112

1314

1516

1718

1920

Child well-being and educational attainment

Attainment

3210-1-2

Child

well-

bein

g o

vera

ll by d

om

ain

108

106

104

102

100

98

96

94

92

UK

SE

ES

SK

PT PL

NL

LU

LV

IT

IE

HU

GR

DE

FR

FI

DK

CZ

BE

AT

R = 0.39 (ns)

Housing

80 85 90 95 100 105 110 115 120

United Kingdom Denmark Sw eden

Luxembourg Belgium Austria

Netherlands Germany

Ireland Finland Malta

Slovenia Spain

Cyprus France

Czech Republic Greece

Italy Slovak Republic

Poland Hungary Portugal Estonia Latvia

Lithuania

12

34

56

78

910

1112

1314

1516

1718

1920

2122

2324

25

Children’s relationships

75 80 85 90 95 100 105 110 115 120

Malta Portugal Slovenia

Italy Netherlands

Belgium Hungary

Ireland Spain

Denmark Greece

Germany Poland France

Sw eden Austria Finland Latvia

Luxembourg Lithuania Estonia

Czech Republic United Kingdom

12

34

56

78

910

1112

1314

1516

1718

1920

2122

23

Subjective well-being

70 75 80 85 90 95 100 105 110 115 120

Netherlands Austria Spain

Greece Ireland

Sw eden Germany Slovenia

Denmark Hungary

Italy Finland France

Czech Republic Belgium Portugal Malta

United Kingdom Poland

Luxembourg Latvia

Slovak Republic Estonia Lithuania

12

34

56

78

910

1112

1314

1516

1718

1920

2122

2324

Risk and safety

75 80 85 90 95 100 105 110 115 120

Spain Cyprus

Sw eden Malta

Netherlands Italy

Finland Greece

Luxembourg France Poland

Germany Slovak Republic

Hungary Denmark Belgium Portugal Slovenia Austria Ireland

Czech Republic United Kingdom

Latvia Estonia Lithuania

12

34

56

78

910

1112

1314

1516

1718

1920

2122

2324

25

Civic participation

80 90 100 110 120 130 140

Cyprus

Greece

Hungary

Denmark

Belgium

Poland

Portugal

United Kingdom

Slovak Republic

Germany

Italy

Latvia

Slovenia

Sw eden

Estonia

Lithuania

Czech Republic

Finland

12

34

56

78

910

1112

1314

1516

1718

Overall child well-being and % of young people saying they lived in a lone parent family

Percentage of young people living in single parent family structures, 11

2220181614121086

dom

ain

one h

undre

d o

vera

ll

130

120

110

100

90

80

USAUK

Swi

Swe

Spa

PorPol

Nor

Net

ItaIre

HunGre

Ger

Fra

Fin Den

CzeCan

Bel

Ost

CountryAVERAGE

RANK HEALTHSUBJECTIVE WELL-BEING

CHILDRENS RELATION-

SHIPS MATERIALRISK AND SAFETY EDUCATION

CIVIC PARTICIPAT

ION HOUSING

Cyprus 4.6 5     1 2   1 14

Netherlands 5.1 2 1 5 10 5 6   7

Sweden 5.8 1 6 15 2 3 2 14 3

Denmark 6.5 3 9 10 6 15 3 4 2

Spain 8.9 13 3 9 8 1 15   13

Finland 9.8 7 12 17 3 7 4 18 10

Germany 10.0 10 7 12 12 12 9 10 8

Slovenia 10.4 15 8 3 4 18   13 12

Belgium 10.8 20 15 6 18 16 1 5 5

Ireland 12.4 19 5 8 19 20 7   9

Greece 12.5 25 4 11 17 8 16 2 17

Italy 12.5 16 11 4 15 6 19 11 18

Austria 12.6 21 2 16 7 19 17   6

Luxembourg 12.6 11 20 19 5 9 20   4

Hungary 12.9 22 10 7 14 14 12 3 21

Poland 12.9 6 19 13 23 11 5 6 20

France 13.0 14 13 14 11 10 14   15

Portugal 13.0 9 16 2 13 17 18 7 22

Malta 13.5 24 17 1 24 4     11

Czech Republic 14.1 4 14 22 9 21 10 17 16

United Kingdom 16.0 23 18 23 20 22 13 8 1

Slovak Republic 16.6 17 22   25 13 11 9 19

Latvia 17.5 18 21 18 16 23 8 12 24

Estonia 19.9 12 23 21 21 24   15 23

Lithuania 20.0 8 24 20 22 25   16 25

Child well-being and teenage fertility rate

Teenage pregnancy (adolescent fertility rate), adolescent fertility rate

403020100

Child

well-

bein

g o

vera

ll by d

om

ain

110

100

90

80

UK

SE

ESSI

SK

PTPL

NL

LT

LV

ITIE

HUGR

DEFR

FI

EE

DK

CZ

BEAT

R = 0.88***

WHY?

Very difficult Probably depends on domain – need for

more detailed work National wealth matters

Overall child well-being (EU) and GDP per capita

GDP per capita ppp 2003

3000020000100000

Child

well-

bein

g o

vera

ll by d

om

ain

120

110

100

90

80

UK

SE

ESSI

SK

PTPL

NL

MT

LT

LV

ITIE

HU GRDEFR

FI

EE

DK

CZ

CY

BEAT

R = 0.61

WHY?

Very difficult Probably depends on domain – need for

more detailed work National wealth matters Policy Effort matters

Child well-being EU and expenditure on social protection benefits as % GDP 2003

SOCEXP

40302010

Chi

ld w

ell-b

eing

ove

rall

by d

omai

n

110

105

100

95

90

85

UK

SE

ESSI

SK

PTPL

NL

MTLU

LT

LV

ITIE

HUGR

DEFR

FI

EE

DK

CZ

BE

AT

R = 0.45

WHY?

Very difficult Probably depends on domain – need for

more detailed work National wealth matters Policy effort matters Direction of that effort matters

Comparisons of expenditure: Family spending in cash, services and tax measures, in percentage of GDP, in 2001: OECD

0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

3.5

4.0

Den

mar

k

Swed

en

Fran

ce

Nor

way

Finl

and

Aus

tria

Aus

tralia

Ger

man

y

Belg

ium

Icel

and

Uni

ted

Kin

gdom

New

Zea

land

Czec

h Re

publ

ic

Slov

ak R

epub

lic

Irel

and

Net

herla

nds

Uni

ted

Stat

es

Japa

n

Italy

Cana

da

Spai

n

Mex

ico

Kor

ea

0.0

0.5

1.0

1.5

2.0

2.5

3.0

3.5

4.0

Cash Services Fiscal Average total (2.1%)

Child well-being EU by expenditure per capita ppp on family benefits and services

Expenditure on families - PPS per capita EURO 2003

120010008006004002000

Child

well-

bein

g o

vera

ll by c

luste

r130

120

110

100

90

80

70

UK

SE

ES SI

SK

PTPL

NL

MT

LT

LV

ITIE

HUGR

DEFR

FI

EE

DK

CZ

CY

BE

AT

Conclusion: UK results

Very disappointing given government efforts Worse results coming in UNICEF Report

Card Could be lag effects – data out of date But we have a seriously long way to go No politicians should be resting on their

laurels - or satisfied with their legacy!