Low levels of wellbeing among children in Wales

Children in Wales have some of the lowest levels of wellbeing among children across 35 countries, a team of Cardiff University researchers has found. The team, from the Wales Institute of Social and Economic Research and Data (WISERD), surveyed over 2,600 children from across Wales about their own happiness, satisfaction and psychological wellbeing, as well as how respected they feel and their inclusion in decision-making processes. The survey showed that older children have lower levels of wellbeing than younger children, with older children reporting that they had felt sad, stressed and bored in the last two weeks, and that school is the area where all children are least satisfied. Within Wales, lower wellbeing was also found amongst boys. The survey formed part of the wider Children's Worlds project - an international study of children's wellbeing which surveyed 128,000 children across 35 countries between 2016 and 2019. It is the first time Wales has been involved in the Children's Worlds project since its inception in 2009. Children's wellbeing in the UK has been on the decline since 2009 and may have seen an even sharper decrease recently, given the current Coronavirus pandemic.