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- Reviewing progress
- List of indicators
- Indicator 68
Creating sustainable communities and a fairer world
68i. Child wellbeing
Percentage of children who rated aspects of the local environment as very or fairly good, 2008
- Overall, when prompted, 75 per cent of children thought their local area was a very or fairly good place to live.
- Just under half of children (47 per cent) thought that their local parks and playing areas and just over half (52 per cent) thought that the activities in the local area were very or fairly good. However 12 per cent thought that local activities were very poor and 15 per cent thought that the parks and play areas were very poor.
- Sixteen per cent of children received free school meals. For these children, proportionately fewer rated their local area as very or fairly good as a place to live, 6 percentage points lower than the average.
- Furthermore, fewer (5 percentage points) of those who received free school meals than average rated local activities as very or fairly good. There was little difference in perceptions about parks and playing areas.
Percentage of children who said that specified positive and negative feelings were true about them, 2008
- 71 per cent of children said that they “felt happy about life at the moment’, and 95 per cent said that they had “At least one or more good friends”.
- 30 per cent worried about parents and family and 29 per cent worried about crime.
- 69 per cent of children said they can talk to their mum or dad when worried about something. In addition, 56 per cent said they could talk to another adult and 73 per cent said they could talk to friends when worried.
- Generally, the proportion of those who received free school meals who said that the positive feelings were true about them were slightly less than average, and the proportion who said that the negative feelings were true about them were slightly larger than average, although in many cases this differences was only about 1 per cent.
Percentage of children who felt very or quite safe in a range of local locations, 2008
- In 2008, 90 per cent of children said they felt very or quite safe at school and 89 per cent going to and from school.
- 75 per cent of children said they felt very or quite safe around the local area. 70 per cent of children said they felt very or quite safe on public transport.
- 10 per cent of children said they felt a bit or very unsafe at school and 30 per cent said they felt a bit or very unsafe on public transport. When only those who received free school meals are considered, this rises slightly to 12 per cent and 31 per cent respectively.
Percentage of children who report being healthy and who report taking part in regular physical activity, 2008
- Overall, 89 per cent of children rated themselves as very or quite healthy, and 74 per cent said they spent “3-5 days” or more “spent at least 30 minutes doing sports or other active things in the last seven days”.
- Approximately 2 per cent fewer of those receiving free school meals rated themselves as very or quite healthy, and 7 per cent fewer reported doing regular physical activity.
Percentage of children who report being bullied at school or somewhere else and children who report being worried about being bullied, 2008
- 28 per cent of children said that they were worried about bullying. The proportion was 6 percentage points higher for those who received free school meals compared with children who did not (not shown).
- 39 per cent of children said they had been bullied at least once in the last year at school and 21 per cent of children had been bullied somewhere else. 6 per cent of children said they were bullied most days at school and 3 per cent were bullied most days somewhere else.
- Children who received free school meals (not shown) were more likely to say they had been bullied on most days (9 per cent at school and 5 per cent somewhere else) compared with children who did not receive free school meals (6 per cent at school and 2 per cent somewhere else).
Updated: 30 July 2009