Report: U.S. is lagging in child well-being
The USA ranks ninth among the world’s 19 wealthiest nations in terms of overall child well-being - despite having the world’s largest economy, according to a Save the Children report released Friday.
The Child Prosperity Index looks at indicators in eight areas affecting children around the world, including health, education, income, safety, employment, gender equality, infrastructure and the environment.
The report is being released ahead of the G20 Summit in China this September. G20 is a meeting of leaders from 20 of the world's largest economies, including the European Union, to discuss issues in the global economy.
Across the G20 nations, Germany's children are most well off, followed by France and Japan. The U.S. lags behind, scoring below average in environment, health and gender equality, according to the report.
Though the index doesn't directly include child poverty data, it does stress that the prevalence of the issue in many high income countries.
Bill Corwin, vice president of Save the Children USA, says children in poorer communities suffer most from the nation's income inequality. "The U.S. really needs to make sure every child benefits from the economic growth of the country," he told USA TODAY.
Twenty-two percent of American children are living below the poverty line. Julia Isaacs, expert in child and family policy at the Urban Institute, says that has negative impact on children's education.
Many U.S. children are attending school but are not necessarily getting a quality education, according to the index. The study found that the U.S. is outranked by China, Korea, Japan, Canada, Germany, Australia, the U.K. and France on education.
About 65% of fourth graders in public school were reading below the proficiency level in 2015, according to a report by The Annie E. Casey Foundation.
Tanya Weinberg, director of media and communications at Save the Children USA, says every indicator in the index circles back to a child's opportunity to be on a level playing field when it comes to education. "We're not going to break the cycle of poverty if we don’t reach the marginalized children with better education opportunities," she said.
Corwin says the most critical time for a child to develop into "a learner" and "someone who is going to benefit from education" is in the first three to five years of life. So, support and services for children and their families must be available before they enter kindergarten, he said.
"There is tremendous wealth in the U.S., but at the same time there's a great deal of kids that aren’t able to perform on par with their peers," he said. "A huge part of that is not having the foundation they need to succeed."
The U.S. ranks 26th in preschool enrollment rates, according to a UNICEF report that looks at the overall well-being of children in 29 developed countries. Isaacs says waiting until kindergarten to intervene creates a "readiness gap" among children, meaning some aren't as ready to learn as their peers.
Tom Loveless, an education researcher at the Brookings Institution, has issues with how the index measured and ranked education. To measure student achievement, the index looks at OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) scores, which tests competency in math, reading and science among 15-year-olds. Though China's PISA score is highest, it is only based on scores from children in Shanghai and Hong Kong, the most highly educated regions in the country. Though the report does highlight this discrepancy, Loveless thinks it is misleading to include China at all.
He also said there are tests other than PISA — one that measures reading and another that measures math and science — that should have been considered when ranking student achievement. "PISA has some strengths and weaknesses but to single out one test doesn’t make sense," said Loveless, who is also affiliated with the organization that administers the other two exams.
Mat Tinkler, director of policy and public affairs at Save the Children Australia and author of the report, says they created the index to develop something that speaks directly to the G20, which is becoming "one of the premier global forums that brings together the worlds 20 biggest economies." This is the first time anyone has compared these 20 countries in terms of child well-being rather than economic growth and GDP, he said.
"We tried to highlight things that matter more broadly when raising a child," Tinkler said. "Economic growth alone isn't enough to improve the lives of children, there are other things countries need to focus on."
Follow Karina Shedrofsky on Twitter: @karinashed