Our Children's Wellness

A measure of things to come? Most would agree, our future lies with our youth. UNISEF released a study last week called “An Overview of Child Well-Being in Rich Countries,” where the United States ranked 20th out of 21 “rich countries.” I am no expert on UNICEF or international research, but this sparked concern for me living in the greatest country on earth.

The research studied six dimensions of child well-being and the United States finished 20th in the two categories Family Relationships and Behaviors & Risks. A correlation could be drawn between these results and the fact that workers in our country registered the most worker hours per year of developed countries, meaning mommy and daddy are not home.

At least a conclusion can be drawn from these results, but why are we dead-last in the dimension Health & Safety? As the most prosperous country on earth, our children are in a marginal standing in Health & Safety, two necessities of life based on any social theory. As a society, we must improve affordability and accessibility to all Americans, especially our youth, our future.