Warning - This article discusses suicide.
A grim new report has ranked New Zealand as one of the worst places to be a child due to its "terrifying" rates of obesity, suicide and illteracy.
On Tuesday UNICEF released its annual Report Card which ranks wealthy countries on their child wellbeing - and the results are damning.
Out of 41 countries, New Zealand ranks 35th for it's outcomes. The report ranks the Netherlands, Denmark and Norway as some of the best places for children to grow up, whereas the US, Bulgaria and Chile are the bottom three.
New Zealand scrapes in just ahead - but it's nothing to be proud of. It has the second highest obesity rates in the OECD with more than one in three Kiwi children classed as obese or overweight.
On top of this, mental health statistics are sobering - youth are committing suicide at more than twice the average - a total of 14.9 deaths per 100,000 teenagers.
Reading and mathematics skills are also poor, with only 64.6 percent of 15-year-olds recorded as having "basic proficiency".
The report is proof New Zealand is failing children, says UNICEF's executive director Vivien Maidaborn.
"The Report Card gives New Zealand an F for failure when it comes to wellbeing outcomes for children. This is a woeful result," she said on Tuesday.
"It is time to be alarmed and activated about the inequality of opportunity, health and wellbeing in New Zealand."
To improve New Zealand's floundering statistics the Government must start to listen to the perspectives of children, says Maidaborn. But there's more that needs to be done.
"We need to reimagine Aotearoa by heeding the advice from child rights experts – and especially Māori leaders and academics – in order to make New Zealand the best country in the world to be a child," she said.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says the report underscores the Government's work to break the cycle of poverty.
"Our plan to make New Zealand the best place in the world to be a child is making a difference but there is more to do," she said.
Ardern says the Government accepted the recommendations made in the report including consulting with children to ensure an integrated approach to wellbeing.
"That work is all under way, with 6000 young people contributing to our Child and Youth Wellbeing Strategy," said Ardern.
