US ranks lower than 38 other countries when it comes to children's wellbeing, new report says

A new report published in the medical journal The Lancet, stated that the United States ranks lower than 38 other countries regarding children's health, nutrition and education using an index called the "child flourishing index". The report also ranked counties on carbon emission and the United States ranked No. 173 for sustainability using estimated data for 2030. The countries among the top for child flourishing showed the most concerning levels of future carbon emissions according to the report commissioned by the World Health Organization, United Nations Children's Fund and the Lancet.  Dr. Stefan Peterson, chief of health at UNICEF and an independent author of the report stated that "no country is in the right place with adequately making children flourish today and in the future." 

For child flourishing, Norway, South Korea and the Netherlands ranked in the top three but on the Global Sustainability index they were ranked 156th, 166th and 160th. Burundi, Chad and Somalia ranked first, second and third in sustainability but 56th, 179th and 178th for child flourishing rankings. 
The "child flourishing index" measured factors like child survival rates, years of school, teen birth rates, maternal mortality, prevalence of violence, growth and nutrition and compared each countries data. Here is the top 5 ranked counties in the child flourishing index:
  1. Norway
  2. South Korea
  3. Netherlands
  4. France
  5. Ireland
Here are the top 5 ranked countries in sustainability:
  1. Burundi
  2. Chad
  3. Somalia
  4. Democratic Republic of the Congo
  5. Central African Republic
It is stated in the report that in order to improve circumstances for the future of the children, we need to stop excessive carbon emissions, regulate the marketing of junk food and alcohol and use the voices of children when creating policies. 
I think that this report is very important because the children of today are the future leaders. The report showed that we are “failing today's children and youth: failing to protect their health, failing to protect their rights, and failing to protect their planet." Not only are we setting children up to fail,but if these children fail, we are setting the future world up to fail and with this much happening in our world right now we need all of the success we can get. 



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