Top 10 countries to raise a child

TORONTO – While Canada may be known for its peacekeeping missions and poutine, our nation isn’t at the top of the list in kid-friendliness ranking.

The best country to raise a child in is Japan, followed by a string of European countries, says a new report released by Save the Child, which is a U.K.-based nongovernment agency that promotes children’s welfare.

Canada ranked sixth, behind Spain, Germany, Italy and France, meanwhile the United Kingdom came in ninth place and our southern neighbours didn’t even make the top 10 list.

Save the Children’s Child Development Index was launched in 2008. The criteria for its rankings is based on three components: the chances of a child dying before his or her fifth birthday, accessibility to education and how many children are enrolled in school, and nutrition – specifically, are these kids healthy and not underweight.

The report says that kids’ livelihood around the world has improved by more than 30 per cent since the 1990s.

“This means that the chances of a child going to school were one-third higher, and the chances of an infant dying before their fifth birthday were one-third lower, at the end of the 2000s than 10 years before,” the report says.

Tanzania received a special shoutout: it moved up 30 notches in the rankings compared to mid-90s rankings because of its “remarkable achievements.” The country halved its child mortality rate and its number of moderately or severely malnourished children.

Take a look at how the world’s nations stacked up and read through the report here.

The top 10 countries to raise a child:
1. Japan
2. Spain
3. Germany
4. Italy
5. France
6. Canada
7. Switzerland
8. Norway
9. United Kingdom
10. Netherlands

The bottom 10 kid-friendly countries:
1. Somalia
2. Niger
3. Chad
4. Burkina Faso
5. Congo, Dem. Rep.
6. Central African Republic
7. Djibouti
8. Sierra Leone
9. Mali
10. Eritrea