Malta has high rate of child deprivation

Malta has the second highest rate of child deprivation in Europe, researchers have found.

A report by the University of York places Malta and Lithuania bottom in a table of the economic situation of children and teenagers across the 25 EU member states.

Child deprivation is measured in the report by the percentage of children reporting low family affluence; the percentage reporting less than six educational possessions (for example a desk to study on, computer for school work and internet connection); and the percentage reporting less than 10 books at home.

The table placed children in Sweden, Finland and Germany among the most advantaged in Europe.

But the island does not fare badly in the overall findings and the report ranks Malta in 14th place on an index of "child well-being".

The report, which will form the basis of a Unicef document, was published in the British Journal of Social Indicators. It analyses surveys and national statistics to create 51 indicators of child well-being across the EU. It considers the children's material situation, housing, health, subjective well-being, education, relationships, civic participation and risk and safety.

Malta, together with Cyprus, Luxembourg and the Slovak Republic, had the lowest response rates to the researchers' requests for information.

One of the subjects tackled in the report was children living in jobless families, since this was associated with a very high poverty risk especially if the situation persisted for several years.

In this area, Malta ranked 14th, with nine per cent of children aged zero to 17 living in jobless households.

Malta placed at the bottom of the list of bad health behaviour, while Poland and The Netherlands had the best. To compile this table, the researchers took five variables from the 2001/02 Health Behaviour in School-aged Children survey: young people who brush their teeth more than once a day; eat fruit every day; eat breakfast every school day; are physically active; and young people who are overweight according to their Body Mass Index.

An overall table on child health, which covers health at birth, immunisation and health behaviour, places Malta 24th of the 25 countries surveyed, followed by Greece.

The island does not fare so badly in terms of housing and the environment - it ranks 11th in an overall table that covers overcrowding, local environment and space and housing problems.

Malta, which prides itself to still hold family values dear, also comes out on top in family structure, which when threatened can pose a risk to a child's well-being. In fact, single parent families and step-families are rare in Malta and Greece, with the UK and Denmark having the highest rates of this type of family.

Well-being at school is also considered an important part of a child's well-being. A positive environment characterised by a socially inclusive school climate, supportive peers and good academic achievements with a low level of stress, could increase a young person's sense of success and competence.

It is interesting to note that while Maltese children reported the highest levels of stress among their European peers (61 per cent), they actually were the ones who liked school best after Austria and The Netherlands.

Combining these two variables ranked Maltese children's well-being at school in 14th place.

Meanwhile, Malta topped the list as having the lowest child mortality in Europe (seven per cent), followed by Sweden and the UK. Children are most vulnerable in the Baltic states with mortality rates ranging between 32 and 43 per cent. The report defines child mortality as accidental and non-accidental deaths under 19.

On the subject of a child's experience of violence, the report took into consideration young people involved in physical fighting and those who were bullied at least once in the previous 12 months (HBSC survey 2001/02) - overall Malta ranked as having the ninth least incidence of this type of violence.