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May 25 2022

Andrew Campbell 

According to a new report, the world's richest countries are destroying children's environments. All over the world, children's habitats are being destroyed. According to a new UNICEF study released on May 24, overconsumption in the world's richest countries is creating unhealthy, dangerous, and toxic environments for children worldwide.

The UNICEF Innocenti Report Card 17, "Places and Spaces: Settings and Children's Well-Being," looks at how 43 OECD/EU countries are doing in terms of providing children with healthy environments. The world's wealthiest countries, such as Finland, Iceland, the Netherlands, and Norway, provide healthier environments for their children while contributing disproportionately to global environmental damage.

According to the most recent UNICEF Office of Research – Innocenti Report Card, many children are exposed to toxic air both inside and outside of their homes. Safe drinking water, sanitation, and handwashing facilities are still lacking in 13 countries. Lead poisons one in every 25 children in the world's richest countries, killing more people than malaria, war and terrorism, or natural disasters combined. Pesticide contamination has been linked to leukemia and developmental delays in children's neurological, cardiovascular, genitourinary, digestive, reproductive, endocrine, blood, and immune systems. Noise pollution has been associated with a number of negative health outcomes, including preterm birth, stress, impaired cognitive functioning, and poor academic performance.

UNICEF is urging national, regional, and local governments to take immediate action to protect and improve the environments of children. Gunilla Olsson, Director of UNICEF's Office of Research-Innocenti, urged governments and the international community to support policies and practices that safeguard the natural environment, on which children and youth rely the most.