Netherlands falls to 22nd place on ranking of children’s rights

The Netherlands has dropped one place to 22nd on the annual children’s rights rankings, continuing a downward trend that has seen it fall from 10th place four years ago.

The table compiled by KidsRights compares children’s welfare in five categories, including the right to life, health and education.

Luxembourg tops the ranking, followed by Iceland, Monaco, Germany and Norway. Belgium is eighth while the United Kingdom is down in 132nd, mainly because it was marked down for not providing an enabling environment for children.

The Netherlands has one of the highest rates of child mortality in western Europe, with 3.96 per 1,000 children dying before the age of five. The figure has risen from 3.91 in 2024.

Research published by the Erasmus MC hospital in Rotterdam this month found that babies in deprived neighbourhoods were twice as likely to die, while infant mortality was also high where mothers lived in poor conditions, including asylum seeker accommodation.

Marc Dullaert, founder and chairman of KidsRights, said: “It is hard to accept that the Netherlands performs worse than almost all other western European countries on child mortality when the risks are known and there have been recommendations for years to protect vulnerable groups better.”

Obesity “epidemic”

KidsRights also found that the Netherlands has relatively high levels of child obesity, which it describes as a “global epidemic”.

More than 14% of Dutch children and teenagers aged between four and 20 are overweight, while 5.4% of children under five are overweight, compared to 3.3% in Germany and 4.9% in Belgium.

The Netherlands was also criticised for not doing enough to tackle online child abuse and the declining quality of youth care.

“A lot of people will be surprised that the Netherlands is going backwards on these issues,” said Dullaert. “But the figures show that the situation is getting worse on fundamental measures of children’s health. This should be a wake-up call.”