Legal Update: Inquiry into child wellbeing

The education select committee has announced that it will hold an inquiry into child wellbeing in England. The inquiry is in response to a recent Unicef report, which ranks the UK 16th out of 29 economically advanced countries according to a number of child wellbeing indicators. The report, Child Wellbeing in Rich Countries: a Comparative Overview, ranks 29 of the world's richest countries against a set of indicators every year. The indicators relate to five dimensions of children's lives: material wellbeing; education; behaviours and risks; housing and environment; and subjective wellbeing.

Overall, the report found that there had been widespread improvement in most indicators in the 29 countries, in particular, family affluence, infant mortality, and smoking among children. While three of the poorest countries included ranked among the lowest overall, the report found that there was not a strong relationship between per capita GDP and overall child wellbeing, suggesting that a country's national wealth does not necessarily lead to happier and healthier children.