Violent child deaths fall 40%
February 4th, 2010The number of violent deaths among children in England and Wales has fallen by almost 40 per cent in the past 30 years, according to a report seen by the BBC.
Research conducted by Bournemouth University suggests that the death rate in the UK is the fourth lowest in the Western world.
Between 1974 and 2006, the annual number of children killed aged 14 and under fell from 136 to 84, the study said.
As a proportion of the child population, the death rate nearly halved from 32 to 17 per million children.
Better monitoring by social workers and improved liaison between health visitors, paediatricians, GPs and police had led to the drop, it said.
Professor Colin Pritchard, from the university’s school of health and social care, told the BBC: “Thirty years ago England and Wales were the third or fourth highest child killers in the Western world, but we’re now fourth lowest.
“There’s been a gradual decline in these terrible events.”
The US and Germany had the highest violent death rates, the study found.
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