Japan ranks 14th in UNICEF report on child well-being
Japan has been ranked 14th out of 36 countries in a UNICEF report on the well-being of children.
The UN children's agency released the report on Wednesday for the first time in five years. UNICEF evaluated child well-being in wealthy countries that are members of the OECD and the EU.
Among the 36 nations whose data were available, the Netherlands came out on top, followed by Denmark. The two countries had the same ranks in the previous report. France came third.
The ranking was based on three dimensions: physical health, mental health, and "skills" such as academic skills.
Japan was 14th which is up from 20th out of 38 countries in the previous report.
By category, Japan's children came first in physical health, as it did in the previous survey. It was measured by the rate of overweight children and child mortality.
They finished 12th in the "skills," a huge improvement from 27th in the previous report.
But Japan ranked 32nd in the category of mental well-being, although it was up five from the previous rank of 37th.
The country improved in children's life satisfaction, with the percentage of children reported to be rather satisfied with their lives increasing to around the average of other surveyed countries. But the suicide rate among adolescents was the fourth highest.
The report pointed out that relationships at home and school are among the factors that influence children's mental well-being. It said support is needed to build good parent-child relationships and called for measures to address risks such as violence and bullying in schools and communities.
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