British schoolchildren are unhappier than children in Ethiopia and Algeria because they are bullied, left out by their peers and under pressure to look good, a ten-year study has found.
English children ranked 14th out of 15 countries for overall life satisfaction, just ahead of South Korea, and scored low for aspects related to their "self" and school, according to the University of York research.
Researchers, commissioned by The Children’s Society charity, said children were partly unhappy as a result of being bullied or feeling left out.
Levels of unhappiness at school were higher among teenagers, with 43 per cent of year eights saying they enjoyed school, compared to 61 per cent of year six students.
More than a third of English students aged 10 and 12 reported being physically bullied in the last month, and half had felt excluded at school.
The report examined the experiences of 53,000 children across 15 countries and it found bullied youngsters in England are six times more likely to have low well-being than those who had not been bullied.
The research also ranked girls in England second lowest for happiness with their body confidence, self-confidence and appearance, just above South Korea, and behind countries including Colombia, Turkey, Spain and Poland.
Children were asked to rate their well-being on the scale from zero to ten where 10 meant "very happy" and 0 meant "very unhappy". They were asked about their satisfaction levels on various aspects of life, including their family and the amount of choice they had.
Kevin Courtney, deputy general secretary of the National union of Teacherssaid the findings were "very concerning", and called on the Government to "consider seriously the impact of their policies on children's well-being".
Matthew Reed, chief executive of The Children's Society, said it should be a legal requirement for English schools to provide counselling, and funding forchildren's mental health should be increased.
Professor Jonathan Bradshaw, from the department of social policy and social work at York, said: "Although we know from previous work that most children in England are positive about their lives, these comparisons show where we could be doing better for our children."
A Department for Education spokesman said: "The best schools create a happy, safe and supportive environment for children, laying the foundations for fulfilment in adulthood.
