EUROPE’S CHILDREN OVERLOOKED IN RUSH TOWARDS MONETARY UNION, SAYS UNICEF
The well-being of Europe’s children is being overlooked in the rush towards integration, according to new research by John Micklewright and Kitty Stewart of the UNICEF International Child Development Centre in Florence, published in the latest issue of the Economic Journal.

The ultimate goal of European integration is to bring about improvements in human welfare and countries wishing to participate in Europe’s economic and monetary union have been required to ‘converge’, or meet similarly high standards of economic performance. But Micklewright and Stewart demonstrate that several aspects of child well-being have suffered over the last 20 years, at the same time as Europe’s economies have moved closer together.

For example, the proportion of households with children in the European Union (EU) that do not include a working adult increased from 8% in 1985 to well over 10% in 1996, despite the fact that official unemployment rates were stable during that period. The UK has the worst record: one in five households with children have no member in work.

Convergence in the numbers of child deaths would have very important implications. The authors estimate that the lives of 10,000 children would be saved each year if all EU Member States were to achieve the under five mortality rate of Sweden - Europe’s best performer along with Luxembourg. Reductions in child death rates are not an automatic outcome of strong economic performance. Improving the lives of children demands specific action including goal setting to guide policy, planning and resource allocation.

Belgium and Portugal were at the bottom of the league of under five mortality rates in 1995 with 9.6 deaths per 1,000 live births. The UK fell mid-table with a rate of 7.2 deaths per 1,000 and Luxembourg and Sweden came out best with only 4.4 and 4.7 respectively.

The UNICEF study examines country-to-country discrepancies on a wide range of indicators of child well-being, including health, suicide rates, education, teenage fertility, and sense of well-being among the young. The study finds that suicide is now the most common cause of death for 15-24 year olds in Europe after road accidents. The numbers of young people taking their own lives has increased by 40% since 1970 and differences in the suicide rate across countries have not diminished.

Teenage fertility rates - frequently used as an indicator of negative outcomes for both mother and child - are seeing an overall welcome downward trend, falling by almost two-thirds since 1975. But notwithstanding the general improvement, there still remains a persistently high teenage fertility rate in the UK: around 30 births per 1,000 teenage women since 1975, compared to an overall EU figure of about 11 per 1,000 by 1995.

The researchers find that the number of young people who declare themselves to be satisfied with their lives is broadly on the rise across Europe, with the share of 15 to 19 year olds who are basically happy standing at around 90%.

In the late 1970s, a startling 98% of young people in Denmark professed to be happy, but only 62% of young Italians concurred. By the first half of the 1990s, that figure had risen with 87% of Italian youth claiming to be satisfied with their lives.

Despite these findings, Micklewright and Stewart note that there is a substantial lack of reliable research on children and young people among EU Member States. They believe the inadequacy of available data on Europe’s children demonstrates that the interests of the young are not given adequate attention in the debate on integration.

The authors call on Eurostat, the EU’s statistical agency, to undertake regular publication of data specific to children and focusing on trends in different aspects of child welfare.

Note for Editors: ‘Is Child Welfare Converging in the European Union?’ by John Micklewright and Kitty Stewart is published in the November issue of the Economic Journal. The authors are based at the UNICEF International Child Development Centre in Italy.

For Further Information: contact John Micklewright on 00-39-055-203-3350 (email: Jmicklewright@mail.unicef-icdc.it); Kitty Stewart on 00-39-055-203-3357 (email: kstewart@mail.unicef-icdc.it); RES Media Consultant Romesh Vaitilingam on 0117-983-9770 or 0468-661095 (email: romesh@compuserve.com); or RES Media Assistant Niall Flynn on 0171-878-2919 (email: nflynn@cepr.org).