05/24/2022 | Press release | Distributed by Public on 05/24/2022 09:46
NEW YORK/FLORENCE (May 24, 2022) - The majority of wealthy countries are creating unhealthy, dangerous and noxious conditions for children across the world, according to the latest Report Card published today by UNICEF Office of Research - Innocenti.
Innocenti Report Card 17: Places and Spaces compares how 39 countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and European Union (EU) fare in providing healthy environments for children. The report features indicators such as exposure to harmful pollutants including toxic air, pesticides, damp and lead; access to light, green spaces and safe roads; and countries' contributions to the climate crisis, consumption of resources, and the dumping of e-waste.
The report states that if everybody in the world consumed resources at the rate people do in OECD and EU countries, the equivalent of 3.3 earths would be needed to keep up with consumption levels. If everyone were to consume resources at the rate at which people in Canada, Luxembourg and the United States do, at least five earths would be needed.
While Spain, Ireland and Portugal feature at the top of the league table overall, all OECD and EU countries are failing to provide healthy environments for all children across all indicators. Some of the wealthiest countries, including Australia, Belgium, Canada and the United States, have a severe and widespread impact on global environments - based on CO2 emissions, e-waste and overall consumptions of resources per capita - and also rank low overall on creating a healthy environment for children within their borders. In contrast, the least wealthy OECD and EU countries in Latin America and Europe have a much lower impact on the wider world.
"Not only are the majority of rich countries failing to provide healthy environments for children within their borders, they are also contributing to the destruction of children's environments in other parts of the world," said Gunilla Olsson, Director of UNICEF Office of Research - Innocenti. "In some cases, we are seeing countries providing relatively healthy environments for children at home while being among the top contributors to pollutants that are destroying children's environments abroad."
Additional findings include:
UNICEF is calling for the following steps to protect and improve children's environments:
"We owe it to ourselves and to future generations to create better places and spaces for children to thrive," said Olsson. "Mounting waste, harmful pollutants and exhausted natural resources are taking a toll on our children's physical and mental health and threatening our planet's sustainability. We must pursue policies and practices that safeguard the natural environment upon which children and young people depend the most."
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Notes to editors
About the UNICEF Office of Research - Innocenti
The Office of Research - Innocenti is UNICEF's dedicated research centre. It undertakes research on emerging or current issues in order to inform the strategic directions, policies and programmes of UNICEF and its partners, shape global debates on child rights and development, and inform the global research and policy agenda for all children, and particularly for the most vulnerable. Please visit: www.unicef-irc.org
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About UNICEF
The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) works in more than 190 countries and territories to pursue a more equitable world for every child. UNICEF has helped save more children's lives than any other humanitarian organization, by providing health care and immunizations, safe water and sanitation, nutrition, education, emergency relief and more.
UNICEF USA advances the global mission of UNICEF by rallying the American public to support the world's most vulnerable children. Together, we are working toward a world that upholds the rights of all children and helps every child thrive. For more information, visit www.unicefusa.org.
For more information, contact
Mackenzie Dougherty,
UNICEF USA, 212.922.2551,
[email protected]