Japan came 14th among 36 developed countries in a new child well-being survey, up from 20th in the previous survey released in 2020, a report by a UNICEF research institute showed Wednesday.
The UNICEF Innocenti report comprehensively evaluated children's mental well-being, physical health and skills.
In the latest rankings, based on data as of 2022, Japan topped the list of surveyed countries, mostly member states of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, in the physical health category, unchanged from the previous rankings.
Japan ranked 32nd in the mental well-being category, up from 37th, and 12th in the category of skills, up from 27th.
Aya Abe, head of Tokyo Metropolitan University's Research Center for Child and Adolescent Poverty, attributed the improvements to the short period of school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic and the improved economic situations of households with children.
Top positions in the latest overall rankings were held by the Netherlands, Denmark and other European countries. The United States and Australia were excluded from the rankings due to a lack of data.
Life satisfaction among 15-year-olds declined in most surveyed countries. Few countries saw improvements, with only three countries seeing an increase in the share of students with basic academic skills.
An official of the UNICEF research institute suggested that long-term school closures due to the pandemic have had a major impact on children's lives.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.