Poland given low ranking for child wellbeing in UNICEF report

Poland ranks 31st out of the 41 developed countries included in a new UNICEF report on children’s wellbeing.

The study highlights particular problems for Polish children in terms of mental health. Poland has the lowest percentage of adolescents with a positive image of their own body, and a high youth suicide rate in comparison to other nations.

The report surveyed children’s feelings and experiences, physical health, and social skills in 41 countries from the OECD and European Union that UNICEF classifies as rich.

The overall ranking is topped by the Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden, while the bottom three places are occupied by the United States, Bulgaria and Chile. Poland is ranked just below Canada and above Australia.

Poland’s position was particularly low in terms of life satisfaction for adolescents, at 26th place out of the 33 countries for which data was available in that category. A total of 72% of 15-year-olds said they felt satisfied with their lives, compared to 90% in the highest-ranking country, the Netherlands.

Over half (54%) of Polish adolescents express dissatisfaction with their bodies, which was the worst among any country. According to the data on Polish children, 38% think they are too fat and 16% believe they are too thin.

Worlds of Influence: Understanding What Shapes Child Well-being in Rich Countries, UNICEF 2020

The report revealed a high suicide rate for Polish adolescents. According to a three-year average of suicides in the 15-19 year age category, between 2013 and 2015, Poland recorded a rate of 8.8 people per 100,000. This was far worse than the lowest-ranking countries, including Greece (1.4 per 100,000), Portugal (2.1) and Israel (2.2).

The data also show that only 70% of Polish 15-year-olds say they make friends easily which was the joint fourth lowest among all countries. Romania came top with 83%, while Hungary scored 79% and the Czech Republic 73%.

The UNICEF report did, however, suggest some positives for child development in Poland. The data put Poland in seventh place for basic proficiency in reading and mathematics, with a rate of 72% for children aged 15.

Poland ranked fifth in terms of places for children to play, with 63% of Polish children saying there were enough such places in their neighbourhoods.

More than 90% of parents in Poland also reported that they would be able to rely on family and friends for extra support, putting the country in fourth place in the rankings.

The worrying figures for child wellbeing and suicide reflect other similar data in Poland.

In 2018 the Empowering Children Foundation found that 7% of Polish teenagers had attempted suicide at least once.  The NGO ranked Poland in second place in Europe in terms of the number of suicides and attempted suicide by young people, behind Germany.

Agnieszka Gmitrowicz, a professor of psychiatry at the Medical University of Łódź, told Dziennik Gazeta Prawna that there has been a steady increase in  youth suicide attempts in the last few years. Last year, 905 teenagers were recorded as attempting suicide in Poland, which was up from 746 in 2018 and 372 in 2016.

Commenting on the UNICEF report, Ewa Falkowska, advocacy director at UNICEF Polska, said the statistics showed the “dramatic” situation of mental health care in Poland, noting that Poland has the fewest child psychiatrists in Europe.

There are only around 400 in the entire country, meaning four per 100,000 residents, with the distribution of specialists also uneven. Poland spends just 3.7% of its health budget on funding mental health care.

Main image credit: Jakub Orzechowski / Agencja Gazeta

Juliette Bretan

Juliette Bretan is a freelance journalist covering Polish and Eastern European current affairs and culture. Her work has featured on the BBC World Service, and in CityMetric, The Independent, Ozy, New Eastern Europe and Culture.pl.