Northern Ireland

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News

The UK is raising one of the unhealthiest generations in decades, paediatricians warn

14 July 2026

The UK now has some of the worst outcomes for children in Europe, with declining vaccination rates and rising asthma admissions and mental health disorders. Paediatricians warn that, without urgent action, the UK is on track to raise one of the unhealthiest generations of children in decades.

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State of Child Health 2026: Oral health

This indicator examines the rate of tooth decay by reporting the proportion of children aged 5 years with obvious tooth decay across England, Scotland and Wales. Data for Northern Ireland were last collected in 2018 and are not included.

Oral health

Health policy

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State of Child Health 2026: Obesity

This indicator looks at the prevalence of children across the UK who are overweight or obese when they start primary school compared to when they finish by measuring a child’s body mass index (BMI).

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State of Child Health 2026: Vaping and smoking

This indicator reports primarily on youth vaping trends by examining the proportion of children aged 15 who are e-cigarette users, including those who have ever tried an e-cigarette and those who currently vape, across the UK.

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State of Child Health 2026: Emotional health and wellbeing

This is a child and young person-led indicator, selected through a UK-wide engagement and ballot process and further developed with children and young people across the UK to reflect what emotional health and wellbeing support should look like and how it should be measured.

Children and young people's voice

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State of Child Health 2026: Early childhood development

This indicator assesses whether children have met the expected developmental outcomes as they enter primary school. It provides an indication of their overall health and wellbeing at a key milestone, and whether children have received access to the support they needed to ensure the best start in lif...

Infant health

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State of Child Health 2026: Headline recommendations

Our 12 indicators provide a practical framework for current and future governments to track and measure progress on children’s health outcomes. We make three key recommendations: improve data, set national targets and invest in children’s health.

Health policy

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State of Child Health 2026: Mental health

This indicator explores the prevalence of mental health conditions in children and young people. Comparisons across the UK are challenging due to the lack of routine, standardised data collection that enables consistent tracking of trends over time.

Mental health

Health policy

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State of Child Health 2026: Injuries

This indicator measures the rate of emergency hospital admissions due to injury in children per 1,000 population in England, Scotland and Wales. There are no comparable data available for Northern Ireland. Data on emergency admissions by injury cause is not readily available. Scotland and Wales...

Emergency medicine

Ambulance services

Health policy

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State of Child Health 2026: Child mortality

This indicator examines child mortality rates across the UK, measured as the age-standardised rate of death from all causes among children and young people aged 1–17 years per 100,000 population.

Health policy

Public health