The Children’s Society says a report, produced by the World Health Organisation and HSBC, shows the UK entered the Covid-19 crisis with some of the lowest levels of children’s wellbeing in Europe.
The research, which involved more than 220,000 school children aged 11, 13 and 15, highlights average life satisfaction scores for each age group in England consistently fell in the bottom quarter of the 45 countries that took part in the survey.
In particular, 11- and 13-year olds in England rank in the bottom three countries for their life satisfaction scores.
In response to the findings, the charity is urging the government to invest in children’s services and provide additional community support to prevent mental ill-health and help lift families out of poverty.
Such a move is critical as lockdown measures begin to ease and the impact of the Covid-19 crisis on children’s mental health and wellbeing becomes clear, it warns.
The research also shows adolescents from more affluent families in all countries reported higher levels of life satisfaction, but the wellbeing gap between the most and least affluent families in England is one of the largest in the study.
In terms of regional scores, the survey shows 15-year-olds in Wales and Scotland are in the bottom quarter for their average life satisfaction.
However, scores for 11- and 13-year olds in Wales and Scotland were much higher.
Richard Crellin, the charity’s policy manager, said the report reflected its own research which shows children’s overall happiness with life has fallen over the last seven years.
He said the study indicated children in the UK felt they had been “failed” amid years of cuts to children’s services and rising levels of child poverty.
“It’s shocking that our children are so much less happy with their lives compared to those in other countries.
“As a country, we need to listen to children more. That’s why it’s vital the government commits to introducing an annual national measurement of children’s wellbeing.
“Children are telling us, loud and clear, that they are being failed,” he said.
The report reveals a substantial variation in mental wellbeing across the countries, indicating the role played by cultural, policy and economic factors.
Around a third of countries reported a rise in young people feeling pressured by schoolwork and a decline in pupils that said they liked school, compared with results from the last survey carried out in 2014.
Results for England showed nearly three quarters of 15-year-old girls said they felt pressured by schoolwork, a figure largely unchanged from 2014.
Meanwhile, scores for boys of the same age increased by 10 per cent since the last survey.
The study also examines the benefits of increased use of digital technology among young people but at the same time exposes the risks posed by online activity.
More than one in 10 young people said they had been recent victims of cyberbullying, a threat disproportionately affecting girls, the report states.
Dr Jo Inchley, an international coordinator for HSBC and one of the report’s authors, said: “It is worrying to see that adolescents are telling us that all is not well with their mental wellbeing, and we must take this message seriously, as good mental health is an essential part of healthy adolescence.”
