Unicef has produced a report considering children's well being in 21 industrial nations. The results are remarkable, Dutch kids topped the list, but the Brits have been embarrassed by taking the bottom slot:

It is predicted that by 2010 there will be more children living in a step-family than in their biological family.

According to today's report, the UK lags in other areas too such as the number of children living in relative poverty, vaccination rates, and the time spent talking, or eating with a parent or parents.

It also has high rates of obesity, drunkenness, bullying, early sexual intercourse, cannabis-taking and teenage pregnancy.

Britain was rated higher for education, but languished in the bottom third for each of the other measures, giving it an overall placing at the bottom, along with the US.

Of course, we can take these findings with the usual grain of salt and qualify them as an attempt by the UN to favor statist economies over free-market entities, but that would be too simple and somewhat disingenuous. So, let’s for a second assume that this is not the case and that the various indicators used by Unicef can be measured objectively and create certain averages by which countries can compensate for scoring low in one area but high in another. Now, take a look at the list:

1. Netherlands 2. Sweden 3. Denmark 4. Finland 5. Spain 6. Switzerland 7. Norway 8. Italy 9. Republic of Ireland 10. Belgium 11. Germany 12. Canada 13. Greece 14. Poland 15. Czech Republic 16. France 17. Portugal 18. Austria 19. Hungary 20. United States 21. United Kingdom

Apart from the obvious conclusion that this report offers some great talking points to Gordon Brown, what explains these rankings?

Are free market economies putting pressure on children’s overall well-being? Possibly, the UK and the USA are not doing very well here, but Canada and Ireland who both ranked in the top-10 of the world’s freest economies are doing much better, although they’re not as high on this list as one might expect.

Religion? Take a look at the first ten: the Catholics and Protestants are distributed fairly evenly, although the first four are largely protestant.

Social tolerance? High divorce rates? The Dutch and Swedes have been pioneers in this department so that does not necessarily support the notion that the break-up of families and alternative lifestyles contribute to children that are less happy. What is worthwhile to note though is that Ireland, Italy and Spain – all catholic – who have the some of the lowest divorce rates on the planet, end up doing well in this ranking.

Cultural confidence? The least likely of all I would say, as it would ensure that the self-assured Brits and Americans would do much better than say the Dutch or the Belgians. This however is an anecdotal measure that is based largely on my own observations.

Maybe smaller countries are scoring better here, compare the numbers 1-10 to 11-20, but that again is not a very satisfactory measure in my mind, as it doesn’t really explain anything.

Yet, there are four northern European countries that top the list who each are known for being economically strong with relatively free markets, have predominantly protestant origins, are socially tolerant, and whose economies have been able to support lavish welfare arrangement without a crippling economic effect. The US has protestant origins and so has Britain, are economically successful, have less generous entitlements handed out by the state and are less liberal on the social front. A pattern? A possible explanation? This is a tough one, feedback is welcome.

UPDATE: Of course, the Dutch "no nonsense" style is an important factor here as one reader says:

I'd like to think my family's attitude towards discipline, during my upbringing, approached Dutch norms of the times: "Firm, but fair." In other words, a variation on the "Here's the line; you'll be warned if you cross it and there will be consequences if you do it again." approach.

Seems to have worked very well with our daughter, who was raised in a purely North American environment. Empathetic, respectful, pensive, reflective, great sense of humour, loyal, an A student. In any event, she herself has on more than one occasion told us how much she appreciated that simple attitude.

It's a comment we often hear from other parents and teachers who observe our kids.