Britain's children: unhappy, neglected and poorly educated

British children are languishing at the bottom of an international league table examining the physical and emotional well-being of youngsters in the world's wealthiest nations.

Despite living in the fifth richest country, the next generation of UK citizens experience some of the worst levels of poverty. The research found they regard themselves as less happy, and that they drank more alcohol, took more drugs, and had more underage sex than children overseas.

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They were also more prone to failure at school, to experience violence and bullying while suffering a greater number of unhappy relationships with both their families and peers.

The Unicef report, which prompted outrage from children's charities and embarrassment for the Government which has lavished billions on child health and education, placed the UK last in the survey of 21 nations, which included Europe as well as the United States, Canada and Japan.

British children came last in three of the six categories analysed, finding themselves in the bottom third for two others. In the second most successful category, education, the UK was ranked 17th, way behind the former eastern bloc countries Poland and the Czech Republic

The Netherlands topped the league, followed by Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Spain. The overall quality of life for children in the United States was judged only narrowly better than in the UK, finishing 20th in the table.

The report's author, Professor Jonathan Bradshaw of York University, said he was surprised by the findings. "This is the result of previous decades of neglect and shows how far we have to catch up," he said. "We knew the UK was high in child poverty and in the number of children living in workless households but we were surprised that it came consistently low across so many of the categories."

Bob Reitemeier, chief executive of the Children's Society, said: " Unicef's report is a wake-up call to the fact that, despite being a rich country, the UK is failing children and young people in a number of crucial ways."

Colette Marshall, UK director of Save the Children, called for an extra £4.5bn to meet the Government's target of halving child poverty by 2010. "It is shameful to see the UK languishing at the bottom of this table. This report shows clearly that despite the UK's wealth, we are failing to give children the best possible start in life," she said.

The shadow Chancellor George Osborne hit out at the Government. "This report tells the truth about Brown's Britain," he said. "The Chancellor has failed this generation of children and will fail the next if he's given a chance. We need a new approach."

The assessment, entitled Report Card 7, Child Poverty in Perspective: An Overview of Child Well-being in Rich Countries, is the first study of childhood well-being across industrialised countries. It analysed 40 separate indicators based on existing data.

Among the most depressing findings were that more than a fifth of UK youngsters rated their physical and mental health as poor - the worst among the rich countries surveyed. Girls reported lower levels of well-being than boys across all the nations surveyed with more than 27 per cent of 15-year-old females expressing dissatisfaction with their health compared to 16 per cent of boys of the same age.

Overall, youngsters in the UK were more likely to feel left out, awkward and lonely, than nearly all their peers in other developed countries, the report said.

Italy and Portugal topped the table with the UK, the US and Czech Republic propping up the bottom of the league when the quality of children's relationships was examined.

Among OECD counties, the UK had the second highest number of children living in single-parent families or with step-parents. Italy, Greece and Poland, traditional Catholic countries, enjoyed the most stable families. The authors said there was a well-established link between family breakdown, educational failure, poor health and reduced life chances.

Less than half of Britain's 11-15-year-olds said they found their peers "kind and helpful."

In terms of economic well-being, Britain was 18th in the table, with only the United States having more children living in a household where the income was less than 50 per cent of the national median.

While the report acknowledged that children today enjoyed unprecedented levels of health and safety and Britain was judged the second safest country behind Sweden in terms of the number of youngsters dying from accidents, the UK once again came in the bottom third of the table for infant mortality and low birth weight.

Meanwhile, British children fared better at school, at least up until the age of 15. But their position plunged when the numbers staying on in education and training were factored in.

A Government spokeswoman said it was committed to improving children's well-being and pointed out that 700,000 fewer children were now living in relative poverty than in 1998-99, while the number of children in absolute poverty had been halved.

Britain's children

Happiness

British children consider themselves the least content in the wealthy world. More than a fifth of UK youngsters said they rated their physical and mental health as poor - only Latvia, Russia and Lithuania fared worse. Girls reported lower levels of satisfaction than boys. UK youngsters were among the least likely to enjoy school or to rate their happiness levels as above average. Overall, they were the most likely to admit to feeling left out, awkward and lonely.

20th

Family & friendships

British children were found to have the worst relationships in the developed world. The UK had the second highest number of children living in single-parent families or with step-parents. Less than two-thirds of British families said they ate together regularly. Britain also came bottom of the industrialised national table when relationships among 11-15-year-olds were examined.

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Education

Regarded by Unicef as vital to a child's future life chances, Britain fared well when 15-year-olds' ability in reading, maths and science was assessed, ranking ninth. But the UK's overall position fell when its poor record in persuading pupils to stay on in education and training was taken into account.

17th

Health & safety

Children born in wealthy nations now enjoy unprecedented levels of health and safety. Britain found itself ranked second behind Sweden as the place where children are least likely to die in an accident. However, this good performance was marred by the UK's relatively high infant mortality and low birthweight rates. The UK also fared poorly when it came to the percentage of children aged 12 months to 23 months immunised against the major vaccine-preventable disease. It was ranked in the bottom third.

12th

Poverty & inequality

Despite being the fifth largest economy, Britain was ranked 18th for material well- being, beating only Ireland, Hungary and Poland. When it came to the number of children living in households where income was less than 50% of the national median, the UK beat only the US. British children were also among the most likely to have a jobless parent and in the bottom third for homes with fewer than 10 books.

18th

Sex, drink & drugs

The UK easily outstripped all other countries when it came to bad and risky behaviour. British children were more likely to have been drunk or had sex than those of any other country. The UK also had the second highest teenage fertility rate. British teenagers were much more likely to be involved in a fight in the past 12 months than other nationalities and more likely to have been bullied.

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'I feel like whatever I'm doing, there is someone watching me'

Leo, 14 North London

I am doing my GCSEs and am under a huge amount of pressure from my teachers and parents to do well. There is a lot of coursework to complete and I am always being nagged to do things like homework clubs and revision tests. The other thing that annoys me about my situation is that I feel that whatever I am doing, there is always somebody watching over me - the only times I feel that I can let go is when I am talking to my friends at school or when I am playing sports.

Chris, 10 Glasgow

I live in a rehabilitation centre - it's where people come to get better, where they can get off drugs and become themselves again. There are 300 toilets here. It's my mum who's coming off the drugs. I think that my mum is in now care because she could not cope with me and my twin brothers and my sister... who takes ages doing her hair. She [my mum] didn't have any money for school clothes... the reason my mum took drugs is because she was always asleep, sometimes she did not look well and was being sick, but that is just life.

Will, 15 Harrow

My biggest fear is getting mugged, but it is something you have to live with. When you go into town, especially on your own, and there are large groups hanging around it can be scary. Most of the time they get away with it... you get a few kicks to the face and they take your mobile or a couple of pounds. My younger brother was mugged. They stole his MP3 player and a few of my friends were mugged as well. One of them took a few punches and got a couple of kicks. And there have been a few attempted muggings. Being out in a group doesn't mean you won't get mugged either.

Stephen, 16 Cheshire

We're pretty lucky around here when it comes to poverty but we've done some projects which makes you realise how little some other people of my age have. For them, a room of their own would be an unbelievable thing, which I take for granted. I'm not surprised to hear that other countries in Europe are better when it comes to their attitudes to children and I think a lot of the headlines about hoodies has made older people, in particular, think we have got nothing to offer and that we are something to worry about.

Sadhia, 17 Middlesex

Every time I pick up a newspaper or hear another TV report about teenagers, it is always demonising us, rather than reflecting the reality for most of us. At the end of a school day, when we sometimes go shopping together, we're looked at suspiciously because we are taking up so much space. People are quite judgmental about teenagers, how we look, where we go, and I think it's a shame that middle-class children are treated with more respect than maybe someone who's wearing a hoodie.

Ed, 17 London

I spend time regularly hanging around my estate because that is how we socialise - we can't really have so many friends round to the house - but we don't cause any trouble and we have a good relationship with the residents. The police stop us fairly regularly, which I find irritating. Two of my friends were stopped and searched by an officer, who was rude and aggressive when they were doing nothing wrong. I have been stopped and searched twice and asked questions four or five times.

Kelly, 15 Cheshire

We've done the Victorians at school and you'd think that there wouldn't be lots of children in poverty any more. I think the Government is saying it wants everyone to have the same opportunities but I'm aware of how many children don't have them. I don't think people my age think there's any way of changing things through the Government. Politics is a bit of a switch-off and I never pay much attention to it. But that's supposed to be the way of stopping poverty - voting for changes through your MP.

Helena, 16 North Yorkshire

Most teenagers do drink, but it depends where they do it. I think it's silly to drink standing on a street, and I understand that this can be intimidating for adults. But it's difficult for us because not everyone's doing this, although people are going to pick up on the worst cases.

Samarra, 11 Hull

I have one leg shorter than the other so I have to wear a built-up shoe. I can run but I always come last. I've got a younger brother and an older sister with cerebral palsy. Mum is on income support. To get things like new wheelchairs you have fill out a lot of forms. And there's a lot of debt. At Christmas we look down the lists and if it is too expensive, we're a bit poor, and it goes to next year. It would be good if we had some money. What I would say to other children is appreciate what you've got."