The KidsRights Index is the first and the only global ranking that annually measures how children’s rights are respected worldwide and to what extent countries are committed to improving the rights of children.

1. Sweden
2. Finland
3. Iceland
4. Luxemburg
5. Germany
6. Greece
7. Denmark
8. Thailand
9. Norway
10. Slovenia

At the bottom of the list are Afghanistan and the African countries of Chad and South Sudan.

The war in Ukraine has disrupted global supply chain security, which has contributed to skyrocketing food and energy prices and has created a steep cost-of-living crisis.

This has had a significant impact on children and their caretakers, in addition to the ongoing effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

One in four children across the world are projected to be living below the poverty line this year, as a result of these developments.

Ukraine’s 7.5 million children are the most disproportionately affected by the war and large numbers were displaced from their country of origin.

In addition, the report highlights the destructive effects of environmental disasters such as the flash floods that hit Pakistan in 2022 and washed away 27,000 schools.

Two catastrophic earthquakes hit Turkey and Syria earlier this year, with 3.7 million children affected in Syria alone.

This year Sweden has jumped to number one and thereby overtook the place of Iceland which had held this position for the past four consecutive years.

The Netherlands dropped 16 places on the KidsRights Index and is now 20th in this ranking, which shows how all 193 countries in the world score in the field of children’s rights.

According to the report, the Netherlands spends a very low percentage of the government budget on children.

It is the first time that the Netherlands has fallen outside the top ten.

https://www.kidsrights.org/research/kidsrights-index/

https://www.kidsrights.org/news/kidsrights-index-2023-one-in-four-children-will-be-living-below-the-poverty-line-this-year/