Alliance Youth shock at Youth Wellbeing Report

Alliance Youth Chair Michael Bower has reacted with shock to the results of a study which ranked the UK 24th out of 29 European countries on youth wellbeing. The study measured wellbeing based on the categories of health, subjective wellbeing, relationships, material resources, behaviour and risk, education, housing and environment.

Michael Bower said “This study shows very worrying statistics about children and young people in the UK. Unfortunately I haven’t seen a breakdown of the scores in Northern Ireland but I can’t imagine that those results would be much better.

“The UK Government and the Stormont Executive need to rethink their policies as regards to children and young people. The wellbeing of children should be at the forefront of a government’s agenda; this study shows that children are losing out.

“The Northern Ireland Executive’s inability to build a consensus on post-primary transfer shows the problems that young people face. They are prepared to sit by and squabble over ideological differences while children face chaos. I would be interested in the results of a study measuring the wellbeing of P6 children right now.”

ENDS