The welfare of Europe’s children. Are EU Member States converging?

Book abstract:

This book is one of the outputs of a UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre project on 'EMU and Children'. It analyses the living standards of the nearly 80 million children in the EU who represent over a fifth of the Union's total population. Their well-being is an important issue - and the nature of their progress to adulthood will have a major impact on the shape of Europe's future. By analysing the trends of child well-being in Europe over the last two decades, this book asks: Is the well-being of children in the EU becoming more similar across Member States? Or are countries diverging while their economies converge?

These issues are addressed with a wealth of data on different dimensions of the changing welfare of Europe's children - evidence that has not previously been drawn together in a single source. The authors consider in turn the material well-being of children, their health and education, teenage fertility, and young people's own views of their lives. There is careful treatment of conceptual and measurement issues and data quality and comparability together with reference to a large literature across the different relevant disciplines.

The book aims to raise the profile of children in the debate on Europe's future, and in doing so, to contribute to the growing discussion of economic and social cohesion in the EU. The analysis is rigorous but it avoids jargon and will appeal to a pan-European audience. It is important reading for academics across the social sciences interested in the well-being of children and youth, NGO's working on behalf of the young and local and national government policy advisers concerned with the issues in a domestic or European context.