Canada Ranks Fourth Overall; First in Education, But Indigenous Children are Being Left Behind

July 22, 2016, Toronto…Just days before Canada and its global counterparts meet in China for the G20 finance ministers meetings, a new report has ranked Canada fourth out of the world’s 19 largest economies for child wellbeing, with a first place ranking in education; but also shows Indigenous children are being left behind when it comes to education.

Save the Children’s Child Prosperity Index scores each of the G20 nations in eight areas: health, education, gender equality, income, safety, employment, infrastructure and environment.

Canada ranked first in the education category which is measured by years and quality of schooling, but this ranking demands further examination. While Canada’s education system fares well when compared with other countries, within Canada itself there are deep inequities based on race. Indigenous children – in particular status First Nation children living on reserve – face education funding shortfalls of up to 30 percent when compared to non-Indigenous children. The dropout rate is also shockingly high amongst Indigenous populations, sitting at 58 percent for First Nations youth living on reserve and 30 percent for Indigenous youth living in cities and towns, versus 10 percent for non-Indigenous youth.

Canada ranked fourth overall in the report alongside Australia, moving up two places from 6^th in 2014 when the index was last published. Despite scoring highly in categories such as income (2^nd) and infrastructure (2^nd), Canada performed very poorly on protecting the environment, ranking a lowly 16^th because of high levels of carbon emissions.

Germany ranked first for the second time running, while France was second and Japan third.

This year’s index has been launched to mark a meeting of G20 finance ministers in Beijing, which is a powerful opportunity for the world’s economic and political elite to improve the lives of children in their own nations and across the planet.

Save the Children is asking ministers to make three guarantees for children; adopt progressive national tax systems to make finance fair, remove social and economic discrimination and legal barriers for every last child, and properly track how their countries are progressing.

“Few would argue that a child’s life chances should be determined before they are born or be defined by where they are born,” said Save the Children Canada President & CEO Patricia Erb. “Yet our report reveals how some of the world’s children are being left behind precisely because of who they are or where they live. The system is broken and either by design or by neglect is leaving out some of our most vulnerable children. The fact that Indigenous children across Canada do not have access to the same level of education as their non-Indigenous counterparts due to discriminatory practices and policies, demands action by our government.”

“On a global scale, all countries must now work towards a world economy that is inclusive and people must change their discriminatory attitudes and beliefs. The cycles of inequality and poverty that entrap generations must be stopped, and we must work together to do so. Countries like Canada must measure their progress by viewing economic growth as a means to an end – an end that delivers social, environmental and economic prosperity for all children equally.”

This is the second Child Prosperity Index that has been published by Save the Children. It provides a snapshot and comparison of a child’s life chances across all G20 countries.

Notable country findings in the 2016 Index include:

• -Germany ranked first, followed by France (2^nd) and Japan (3^rd)
• -Canada, ranked equal fourth overall, was the best performing nation on education indicators
• -Brazil dropped in the rankings to 17^th, but topped the results for protecting the environment
• -The United States was placed only 9^th despite being the largest economy in the world