Canada barely getting a passing grade in UNICEF's latest Report Card on child well-being
UNICEF Report Card 19 reveals troubling mental health trends for children and young people across Canada.
TORONTO, May 13, 2025 /CNW/ - When it comes to places to grow up in, Canada is barely getting a passing grade. UNICEF Report Card 19, which looks at the state of child and youth well-being across high-income countries, ranks Canada 19th out of 36 countries, far below the top tier expected of one of the world's the wealthiest nations. Even as Canada's national wealth has risen over the past 25 years, it's progress on indicators of child well-being has largely stalled, with mental health of particular concern.
To dive further into Canada's performance, UNICEF Canada is also publishing Childhood Interrupted: How Canada's Child Well-Being Compares to Other Wealthy Countries, a companion summary report for Report Card 19. It warns that Canadian children today are less happy than 10 years ago. In fact, one in five children report experiencing frequent bullying and just as many have reported loneliness at school.
Canada received mixed results in other key areas of the report:
One in four children have difficulty making friends; ranking 28th
Despite progress, Canada maintains a high rate of adolescent suicide; ranking 33rd
Canada ranks in the top 10 countries in only one area: academic skills; ranking 6th
Life satisfaction among children saw a decline from 83% in 2010 to just under 76% in 2022; ranking 13th
Countries with less wealth than Canada like Portugal and Spain showed better child outcomes, ranking 4th and 7th respectively. The Netherlands, Denmark and France topped the list taking podium positions.
"Canada is standing at an important crossroads as a nation. We have big choices to make that will define the quality of life for generations of children," said Sevaun Palvetzian, President and CEO of UNICEF Canada. "This report puts a spotlight on the areas we need prioritized for our children and youth: their health, safety, education, and happiness. Resting on our laurels will not take us into the future we need – or that our children deserve."
The report warns that children and young people today are facing a 'polycrisis' of stresses – from the lingering impacts of the most severe pandemic in a century, to the fastest price inflation in a generation, to the increased risk of exposure to harm and bullying on social media.
"As a young person and mental health advocate, I'm deeply disappointed by how the life satisfaction of children and youth in Canada is falling. Good mental health is the foundation for childhood, yet it continues to be overlooked," said UNICEF Canada's Youth Advocate Matin Moradkhan. "We are calling for fundamental policy change to our education, funding, and healthcare system, so every child and young person has the opportunity to thrive."
Canada's performance compared to its peer countries demonstrates that public policies are not yet sufficient to nurture children's potential and protect them from the economic, social, technological and environmental disruptions. UNICEF Canada is calling on all levels of government to:
Strengthen income benefits, parental leave, school food programs and affordable child care to give children the best start in life.
Establish a National Commissioner who ensures children's needs stay in focus through every government decision.
Ensure children can access the mental health support they need, starting by including younger children in the federal Youth Mental Health Fund.
Implement Jordan's Principle to ensure equitable access for First Nations children to all government services and support.
Download Report Card 19 here, and the Canadian Companion summary here. A more extensive version of the Canadian Companion will be available in the coming weeks.
About UNICEF's Report Card Series
As the world's knowledge leader for children, UNICEF is committed to collecting and sharing critical information on the situation of children around the world. For more than 25 years, UNICEF has published a Report Card series on the well-being of children in high-income countries. By making this data and analysis publicly available, parliamentarians and policy-makers have the information they need to make decisions in the best interest of every child, and all Canadians, including those working in the child well-being sector, will have the tools they need to be a part of the solution.
About UNICEF
UNICEF is the world's leading humanitarian organization focused on children. We work in the most challenging areas to provide protection, healthcare and immunizations, education, safe water and sanitation and nutrition. As part of the United Nations, our unrivalled reach spans more than 190 countries and territories, ensuring we are on the ground to help the most disadvantaged children. While part of the UN system, UNICEF relies entirely on voluntary donations to finance our life-saving work. Please visit unicef.ca and follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
SOURCE UNICEF Canada
View original content to download multimedia: http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/May2025/13/c1344.html
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Wildfire smoke brings poor air quality back to West Michigan
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — An air quality alert has been issued for the Lower Peninsula through noon on Friday as smoke from Canadian wildfires lingers. On Thursday morning, the Air Quality Index reached unhealthy levels across much of the state with the smoke thick enough at the surface to contribute to reduced visibility. You may get an occasional campfire scent along with added congestion and eye irritation due to the smoke. During this time, strenuous outdoor activity is discouraged, especially for sensitive groups such as those with asthma or heart disease who could experience a greater impact. Young children and the elderly are more susceptible to the effects of poor air quality. Limiting outdoor burning and sources of air pollution is helpful. While the air quality alert is set to expire at noon on Friday, it's possible the smoke may stick around into the weekend with no significant forcing or pattern change coming in the next few days to help push the smoke away. Stay with Storm Team 8 as we continue to track the smoke. If you have photos of the smoke that you'd like to share with News 8, to submit them. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Forbes
an hour ago
- Forbes
UNICEF Protects Sudan's Children From Malaria, Cholera As Cases Rise
For children caught in Sudan's brutal conflict, one of the many devastating impacts is a heightened risk of contracting a preventable disease like malaria or cholera. Donor support is needed to help UNICEF reach the sick with lifesaving treatment, contain the outbreaks and strengthen long-term prevention. In the Arabee neighborhood of Damazine, Blue Nile state, Sudan, girls sit under a bed net provided by UNICEF to prevent malaria, a mosquito-borne illness. UNICEF and partners are distributing bed nets and other emergency supplies to contain the spread of malaria and other infectious diseases that have surged as the Sudan conflict continues. As displaced families struggle to access safe water, nutrition and health care, cases of malaria and cholera keep rising. Both infectious diseases are preventable and treatable, but conditions on the ground are fueling these outbreaks. UNICEF is working with partners to strengthen prevention and treat the sick, delivering lifesaving supplies and other support to health workers and facilities. But with recent funding cuts, more donor support is needed. Malaria remains one of the three leading causes of death among young children worldwide, after pneumonia and diarrhea. The disease, relatively rare in temperate climates and common in tropical and subtropical areas, is caused by a parasite and spread to humans through the bites of infected mosquitoes. Symptoms include high fever and chills. Young children in Africa represent the vast majority of malaria-related deaths. To combat rising cases in Sudan, UNICEF is rushing anti-malarial bed nets to shield families from mosquito bites, providing testing kits and medicines to ensure early diagnosis and timely treatment, and vaccinating children under age 2. Mohammed 12, carries anti-malarial bed nets received from a UNICEF supply distribution center in Arabee village in Damazine, Blue Nile state, Sudan on May 30, 2025. Cholera cases are also rapidly rising in Sudan as access to safe water and basic sanitation is disrupted or outright depleted, as it tends to be in conflict-affected areas. Contracted by ingesting food or water contaminated with the bacterium Vibrio cholerae, cholera can easily spread in crowded camps. Severe cases can cause acute watery diarrhea. It is treatable with oral rehydration solution and antibiotics, but severe cases — which typically cause acute watery diarrhea leading to severe dehydration — can be fatal, especially for a malnourished child with an already weakened immune system. Sudan isn't the only country dealing with cholera; outbreaks have become increasingly common across Africa. UNICEF is working with governments and local and community-based partners in many high-risk countries to strengthen prevention and build resilience to future outbreaks through better monitoring, surveillance and response mechanisms, social behavior change, water and sanitation system upgrades and other solutions. Cholera can be prevented with regular handwashing with soap and maintaining separate water and sanitation facilities. Community health and other frontline workers can further support prevention by promoting best hygiene practices. A mother who was displaced from Al Jazirah and is staying at a displacement camp in Kassala state receives a dignity kit from UNICEF. The kit includes supplies to meet basic water and sanitation needs: a bucket and jerrycan, soap, laundry detergent, menstrual hygiene products and more. As conflict in Sudan continues, UNICEF together with partners remain on the ground, delivering lifesaving supplies and services in conflict hotspots, providing urgent support to displaced and host communities, and building resilience through support to essential service delivery across the country. In Sudan, tackling cholera is another integral part of UNICEF's emergency response to the country's ongoing conflict and related crises affecting children and families. More than 7,700 cholera cases, including over 1,000 cases in children under age 5, and 185 associated deaths have been reported in Khartoum state since January 2025, according to health authorities. Since the beginning of the brutal conflict, more than 3 million people have been forced to flee their homes in Khartoum state and the violence has upended the lives of millions more. With large parts of the state becoming more accessible, families have started to return to their homes, finding them damaged and critical water and sanitation services largely unavailable. More than 1 million children are estimated to live in the affected localities across Khartoum state. On Jan. 18, 2025, a UNICEF volunteer checks the quality of water at a camp in Kassala state sheltering thousands of families displaced by fighting in Al Jazirah, in eastern Sudan. Providing clean, safe water and constructing sanitation facilities are critical for preventing waterborne diseases such as cholera. These interventions remain integral to UNICEF's emergency response with partners as Sudan's conflict continues. Continuous attacks on power plants in Khartoum state over the past month have disrupted electricity supply and worsened water shortages, significantly impacting access to safe and clean water. This has forced many families to collect water from unsafe and contaminated sources, increasing the risk of cholera and other deadly waterborne diseases, especially in overcrowded neighborhoods and displacement sites. Reported cholera cases have surged significantly from 90 per day to 815 per day between May 15 and 25, a nine-fold increase over just 10 days. Meanwhile, there are tens of thousands of children with severe acute malnutrition (SAM) in Jebel Aulia and Khartoum localities, where famine looms, heightening their risks should they fall ill. "We are racing against time with our partners to provide basic health care, clean water and good nutrition, among other lifesaving services, to children who are highly vulnerable to deadly diseases and severe acute malnutrition,' said Sheldon Yett, UNICEF Representative for Sudan. 'Each day, more children are exposed to this double threat of cholera and malnutrition, but both are preventable and treatable, if we can reach children in time." UNICEF and partners continue to work with Sudan's Federal Ministry of Health to curb the spread of the deadly disease and save lives. A multipronged response is underway in high-risk communities and includes supporting essential water infrastructure through the provision of water treatment chemicals (polymer and chlorine) and a generator to keep a major water treatment plant operating. UNICEF and partners are distributing household water treatment chemicals to curb community transmission, deploying water chlorinators across water points to provide safe drinking water and mobilizing rapid response teams to support water chlorination and conduct disinfection activities. More than 2.5 million people have already benefited from the WASH supplies UNICEF and its partners have distributed. UNICEF is also engaging communities, through dialogues and social media, to disseminate key messaging on causes, symptoms and best prevention practices. On Jan. 16, 2025, community health volunteers converge for a meeting in Telkok, Kassala state, Sudan. As part of a social and behavior change initiative, UNICEF has trained and deployed over 100 community health volunteers to enhance awareness and uptake of critical health services, including childhood vaccinations. These volunteers play a critical role in preventing cholera and other disease outbreaks. UNICEF has also: UNICEF also continues to support the delivery of lifesaving nutrition services through 105 outpatient management programs at health facilities and 4 stabilization centers in Khartoum state. Through these efforts, so far this year over 17,000 children under age 5 with SAM have been treated and 30,000 cartons of ready-to-use therapeutic food (RUTF) and therapeutic milk have been delivered across all state localities. Your contribution to UNICEF is more important than ever. Please donate. Right now, the lives of the most vulnerable children hang in the balance as conflicts and crises jeopardize the care and protection that they deserve. Dependable, uninterrupted and effective foreign aid is critical to the well-being of millions of children. Please contact your members of Congress and urge them to support ongoing U.S. investments in foreign assistance.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Canadian wildfire smoke is still affecting Wisconsin. How to keep kids and pets safe with poor air quality
Like much of the Midwest, Wisconsin's air quality is still seeing effects from Canadian wildfire smoke, with Milwaukee experiencing some of the worst air quality in the nation. In fact, Milwaukee had the worst air quality in the U.S. on June 4 with an air quality index of 153, The New York Times reported. While Chicago has since topped the Times' list, Milwaukee remains in second with an AQI of 136. This AQI is considered "unhealthy for sensitive groups," according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's standards. An air quality advisory from the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources remains in effect until noon on June 5. The National Weather Service also said in a post on X that healthy residents should consider spending limited time outdoors. While wildfire smoke can negatively impact anyone, children and pets are some of the more vulnerable groups. As the poor air quality continues throughout the state, here's what experts recommend you should do to keep them safe: Wildfire smoke is a "complex mixture" of pollutants shown to cause a range of health effects, according to the EPA. These effects can be "relatively minor," like eye irritation, to more serious, including premature death, the agency says. Children are "especially vulnerable," since their lungs are still developing, the EPA says. Aside from physical health effects, the agency notes children may also experience stress and mental health problems from wildfires. More: Milwaukee has the worst air quality in the US right now, according to The New York Times Like humans, animals can be negatively impacted by poor air quality, says. Those with heart or lung disease and older pets are "especially at risk" and should be closely monitored when air quality is poor. Children aged 2 and older can wear masks and respirators, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. However, masks approved by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health aren't made to fit young children, the CDC says. So, you should choose a mask or respirator that fits your child comfortably. The agency also notes certain face coverings, like surgical masks or breathing through a wet cloth, will not protect kids. According to the CDC, there are several steps you should take prior to the risk of wildfire smoke inhalation, including: Stock up on medication if evacuation may be necessary. Buy groceries you won't have to cook. Talk to your child's healthcare provider, especially if they have a chronic health condition. Once wildfire smoke hits, here's how the CDC says you can keep protecting your kids: Check air quality reports. Check school closings. Limit time outdoors. Keep windows and doors closed. Use an HVAC system with air filter. Use a portable air filter, if available. Consider evacuating if your child is experiencing breathing problems or other symptoms from smoke inhalation that do not improve. Seek medical attention immediately if they are having trouble breathing, is "very sleepy" or will not eat and drink. You should have "high efficiency filters" before fire season starts and consider creating a "clean room" with a portable air cleaner, recommends. Here are some tips from for keeping your pets safe once wildfire smoke begins: Keep pets indoors as much as possible. Bring outdoor pets into rooms with good ventiliation. Keep indoor air clean by avoiding certain activities, like vacuuming or burning candles. Limit time outdoors and physical activity. Include pets in any evacuation planning, if necessary. If your animal is showing any of the following symptoms, recommends contacting your veterinarian: Coughing Gagging Red or watery eyes Nasal discharge,inflammation of throat or mouth Reluctant to eat hard foods Trouble breathing, includes open-mouth breathing and if they're making more noise when breathing Fast breathing Fatigue, weakness or disorientation Reduced appetite Reduced thirst The DNR has interactive air quality maps, which show the AQI and any active alerts or advisories by county. You can view them on the department's website. You can also sign up for air quality advisory notices through the DNR's website at More: Canadian wildfire smoke could affect Wisconsin all summer. Here's how to track air quality This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Canadian wildfire smoke: Keep kids, pets safe when air quality is poor
