Vietnamese ranked 92nd in the world for child care quality

Vietnam has 24.9% of severely malnourished children and 10.4% are forced into early marriage, according to a report by Save the Children.

Save the Children has just released its End of Childhood report, ranking 172 countries from best to worst in childcare, CNN reported. As a result, Norway and Slovenia shared the top spot, while Niger was last. Vietnam ranked 92nd in this list.

Photo: Save the Children.

According to the report, the assessment criteria include under-five mortality, malnutrition, school dropout, child labour, early marriage, teenage births, conflict-related displacement and crime (homicide).In 2015, 263 million children were out of school, 168 million were working and nearly 28 million were forced to leave their homes.

Despite having the world’s largest economy, the US ranks 36th, behind struggling countries like Greece and Ireland. The reason is the high rate of teenage births and deaths of children under 5 in the US. In 2015, 23,455 American children under 5 died, more than 40 European countries combined.

The 10 worst countries for child care are all in West and Central Africa, which have been hit hard by famine and conflict. In Niger, 43% of children aged 59 months and under are stunted due to malnutrition. 19.3% of the population of the Central African Republic has been displaced by ethnic conflict; children are used as soldiers.

"Never before have so many people fled war and terror," said Richard Bland, director of Save the Children. Leading the world in migration rates,65.4% of Syrian children are now living away from home due to the ongoing war.

Ranked 92nd in child care, Vietnam has 24.9% of children severely malnourished. The under-five mortality rate averages 21.7% but disproportionately affects ethnic minorities. 10.4% of children are married early, with the number coming from poor families seven times higher than from well-off families. The average age for Vietnamese children to start working is 16.4.

Lindsay Stark, a professor of population and family health at Columbia University, said the report had some limitations and recommended that Save the Children provide a more detailed explanation of why some countries topped the rankings while Niger came in last, as well as diversify its sources of information. However, she said the report highlighted important issues that had “previously received little attention.”

According to VNE