Pandemic hit hard Bulgarian children’s academic skills, mental and physical health – report
Children in many of the world’s wealthiest countries saw marked declines in their academic performance, mental wellbeing, and physical health in the period since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to analysis published on May 14 by UNICEF Innocenti – Global Office of Research and Foresight.
Report Card 19: Child Wellbeing in an Unpredictable World compares data from 2018 and 2022, offering a perspective on how the Covid-19 pandemic and global shutdowns affected children in 43 OECD and EU countries. Since the last comparable Report Card five years ago, the Netherlands and Denmark retained their rankings as the top two places to be a child, based on measures of mental wellbeing, physical health, and skills, followed by France.
The report goes on to analyse data on children’s physical health, noting that levels of overweight increased substantially in 14 out of 43 countries with available data, continuing a long-term trend. On this indicator, Bulgaria is one of the worst performers, ranking 34th out of 41 countries. Almost one in three children in Bulgaria is overweight. The proportion of 29.2 per cent is higher than the average for the countries in the study (27.8 per cent) and represents a slight increase compared to 2018 (27.6 per cent).
However, the report warns many countries experienced sharp declines in children’s academic skills following the pandemic – particularly foundational abilities such as reading and mathematics. School shutdowns of between three and 12 months forced many children to learn remotely and led to learning losses. The extent to which children are behind where they should be academically is estimated to be between seven months and one year, on average, the report says. Setbacks were most severe for children from disadvantaged families. In terms of academic skills, Bulgaria ranks last – only three other countries have a lower score – Colombia, Costa Rica and Mexico.
The report also raises concerns around mental health, pointing out that children’s life satisfaction suffered during this time, declining substantially in 14 of 32 countries with available data. Japan was the only country to see a marked improvement in this area. In Bulgaria – 71 per cent of 15-year-olds expressed satisfaction with life, which is close to the average for other countries.
The aggregate data for Bulgaria shows that life satisfaction, obesity and academic skills of Bulgarian children have deteriorated compared to the previous Report 16. A positive trend is the reduction in child mortality and the improvement in children’s self-reported social skills. Bulgaria ranks 28th out of 36 countries in the overall ranking on the six indicators of child well-being.
“The report clearly shows that even in high-income countries, children do not always get the opportunity to grow up healthy, educated and feeling supported. The concerning results for Bulgaria clearly point to the need for coherent and holistic action to improve the skills, physical and mental health, prevention and elimination of online and offline violence for all children, but especially for children from vulnerable social groups,” Christina de Bruin, UNICEF Representative in Bulgaria, said.
Pointing to the pandemic’s impact on children, the report warns that hard-won progress in child wellbeing in wealthy countries is becoming increasingly vulnerable to global events and shocks, such as climate change. The report calls on governments and stakeholders to take action in several policy areas to address declines in children’s wellbeing.
(Photo: freepik)
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