EGN NEWS DESK
The UK’s youngsters have the bottom ranges of happiness and life satisfaction in Europe, a brand new examine has discovered.
The Good Childhood Report 2024 was compiled by Christian charity, The Children’s Society, which stated it painted a “deeply worrying image” about how younger individuals within the UK really feel.
The report is predicated on the findings of The Children’s Society’s personal annual family survey in 2024 and an evaluation of knowledge from 27 European nations belonging to the OECD’s Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA).
The report reveals {that a} quarter of 15-year-old college students within the UK (25.2%) reported low life satisfaction in 2022 – the latest knowledge out there – a far higher proportion than the 16.6% common throughout the identical age group within the different 26 nations.
By distinction, solely 6.7% of Dutch teenagers reported low life satisfaction.
UK ladies are considerably unhappier than their friends in different European nations. Nearly a 3rd (30.9%) of UK ladies aged 15 reported low life satisfaction, in comparison with just one in 5 (21.4%) of the identical age throughout Europe.
Life satisfaction for each younger ladies and boys within the UK declined between 2015 and 2022 extra quickly than different elements of Europe – by 1.03 factors for UK ladies, in comparison with 0.77 factors for ladies on common throughout Europe, and 0.80 factors for UK boys, in comparison with 0.41 factors for boys on common throughout Europe.
The UK has a number of the highest charges of meals poverty in Europe with one in 10 UK 15 yr olds (11%) skipping meals at the least as soon as every week due to monetary pressures – placing the UK above solely Bulgaria, Romania, and Lithuania.
UK youths aged 10 to 17 from financially strained households had been discovered to have decrease low life satisfaction than their friends in additional prosperous households.
Commenting on the findings, Children’s Society Mark Russell, stated that “alarm bells are ringing”.
“UK youngsters are going through a happiness recession, with 15-year-olds recording the bottom life satisfaction on common throughout 27 European nations,” he stated.
“It’s time for change, and we’re dedicated to main the way in which.”
