In a United Nations survey of 21 wealthy countries, the United States and Britain ranked the… In a United Nations survey of 21 wealthy countries, the United States and Britain ranked the lowest in child welfare, finishing at 20 and 21 respectively. At the top of the list are northern European countries like the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark and Finland.

Everything from how often children ate dinner with their parents to infant mortality rates were measured in the UNICEF survey. Social policy professor Jonathan Bradshaw of the University of York in Britain believes that despite the UK and the United States being very wealthy countries, children suffer from a greater economic inequality.

“What [the United States and Britain] have in common are very high levels of inequality, very high levels of child poverty, which is also associated with inequality, and in rather different ways poorly developed services to families with children,” Bradshaw said in an Associated Press article.

He also stated that people don’t invest as much care in the children of the United States as those in continental Europe, and they aren’t privy to the same quality health care, daycare and preventative care. Children in the higher-ranked countries were also less likely to engage in “risky” behavior like sex, drugs and drinking. They also had a lower likelihood of having single-parent or stepparent families.

Although the authors of the report did add a disclaimer stating that not all single-parent families were bad for children, the overall findings of the report suggest that, on a whole, they are.

The report also touched on peer relationships and bullying. If we were taking this survey pass/fail, we’d be signing up for it again next semester.

It’s surprising and disturbing that our infant death rates are so high, but other differences revealed in the survey might be more of an indication of cultural differences than bad parenting. It’s impossible to say that all single-parent and stepparent families are bad for children.

Countries with socialized health care will always have smaller gaps between the rich and the poor, but the quality of care might not be as high as privatized health care in the United States.

Still, the best health care in the world is pointless if only the rich can access it. Perhaps it’s time for the United States to re-evaluate its policies on health care and insurance and try to close the gap, without sacrificing the quality we are known for throughout the world.

Further, the United States could stand to take a cue from the study and from European nations in its approach to the balance between work and family life. The ’90s’ Family and Medical Leave Act was a step in the right direction, but the United States remains far behind Europe when it comes to the flexibility in work schedules that is so important for workers caring for children and disabled or elderly relatives.

Certainly, some of the discrepancy is merely indicative of cultural differences between America and Europe when it comes to attitudes toward work and family. However, advances in technology have made it far easier for employers to accommodate workers’ needs and flexible scheduling.

The country could benefit from federal initiatives that would encourage (if not force) employers to be more progressive in the realm of facilitating employee needs.

While we agree that there is an economic inequality preventing children from getting everything they need as far as health care and daycare, the values the survey based its rankings on might be a little misleading.