KEY POINTS:
New Zealand's cherished reputation as a "children's paradise" has been shattered by a new Unicef report which ranks the country in the bottom half of developed countries on two-thirds of the measures of children's wellbeing.
The report, published in Europe overnight, shows that New Zealand children die from
accidents and injuries at a higher rate than in any of 24 other developed countries.
New Zealand scores best on educational achievement, ranking sixth-best in the world on an indicator of reading, mathematical and scientific literacy and eighth-best on the proportion of children living in homes with at least 10 books (94 per cent).
Of the 15 indicators for which New Zealand figures are available, it ranks in the top half of the list in only five measures, and in the bottom half in 10.
Australia is better for children on 11 of the 15 measures, but still makes the top half in only seven.
The Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark and Finland top the league table as the best four countries in the world for children.
The United States and Britain come in at the bottom of the list, scoring particularly badly on broken families, obesity and "risky" teenage behaviour with drink, drugs and sex.
Australia and New Zealand were not ranked in the overall summary because there was not enough data, but the figures that are available suggest that they are also near the bottom.
Save the Children Fund's New Zealand director John Bowis said the report showed New Zealanders should work much harder to improve children's lives.
"New Zealand used to be proud of its standing in the world in terms of children's access to education, health care and strong families," he said.
"The Unicef report shows we have a long way to go until we can, once again, be proud of our children's wellbeing."
Excuse
Unicef national director Dennis McKinlay said New Zealand could not use the excuse that it was simply poorer than many other developed countries.
"This report shows that many countries with much lower per capita incomes, such as Poland and Hungary, do better than New Zealand at keeping their children safe and much better at treating them as valuable members of the family and society," he said.
"We all need to take responsibility and not just lay the fault at the feet of government, which is in fact beginning to be pro-active about New Zealand's appalling rates of family violence and child deaths by maltreatment."
Education Minister Steve Maharey said New Zealand's rankings would be higher after taking account of changes since the figures were gathered for the report, such as higher family support payments through Working For Families.
"We have made huge inroads into key areas of child wellbeing in terms of Working For Families, education and health," he said.
"I am confident the next Unicef report card will reflect this."
New Zealand was the worst on two items (children killed in accidents and injuries, and 15- to 19-year-olds in education) and second-worst on another two (teen pregnancies, and 15-year-olds eating their main meal of the day with their parents).
New Zealand scores slightly above average on the proportion of 15-year-olds expecting to find skilled work, underweight babies, and on the proportion (78 per cent) of 15-year-olds in homes with at least six of eight educational items - a desk, a quiet place to study, a computer, educational software, the internet, a calculator, a dictionary and school textbooks.
The country is slightly worse than average for 15-year-olds who feel lonely (7 per cent) and 15-year-olds whose parents spend time "just talking" to them several times a week (52 per cent).
It is seventh-worst on two measures of child poverty - children in families earning less than half the median income (15 per cent) and children in homes where no parent is in paid work (7 per cent).
Surprisingly, it is also in the bottom four on two measures of children's health on which the country once prided itself - babies dying before their first birthday (5.6 in 1000) and immunisation rates by age 2 for polio (82 per cent), measles (85 per cent) and diphtheria, pertussis and tetanus (90 per cent).
