Montenegro is recording a decline in immunization rates, but also an increase in infant and under-five mortality, according to the report Child Rights Index 2025, by the international organization "KidsRights", based in the Netherlands.
According to that report, Montenegro has fallen eight places, so this year it is in 47th place out of 194 ranked countries in the world.
The report ranks countries in five areas and places them in five clusters. Montenegro is worst rated in the area related to child health, where it is in 137th position out of 194 countries, in the company of Indonesia, Nepal, Guatemala, Bangladesh, the Philippines... This places it in cluster four in the area of health.
Montenegrin education ranked 57th, right to life 47th, protection system 63rd, children's rights 48th, climate change 40th.
When it comes to the overall ranking, Slovenia is in 12th place, Serbia in 33rd place, Bosnia and Herzegovina in 59th place, North Macedonia in 60th place, Croatia in 85th place, and Albania in 148th place.
The countries that, according to the ratings of "KidsRights", most adhere to and work towards the realization of children's rights contained in the United Nations Convention are Greece, Iceland, Luxembourg, Germany, Monaco, Denmark, Belgium, Norway, Finland, Thailand. At the bottom of the table, which depended on the average of all six parameters measured, are El Salvador, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Congo, Madagascar, Guinea, Chad, Afghanistan...
Ombudsman: Decrease compared to 2024.
The report of the international organization is also presented on the website of the institution of the Protector of Human Rights and Freedoms.
"The KidsRights Index is an annual global index published by the KidsRights Foundation, which shows how countries comply with the realization of children's rights and how they are equipped to improve the situation in this area. The first and only global index for children's rights consists of five areas," the Ombudsman's institution explains.
They point out that the Child Rights Index includes 194 countries around the world, and that they are categorized into five clusters.
"Cluster 1 contains the best-performing countries, and cluster 5 contains the worst-performing countries. The cluster movement of countries is a strong indicator of major improvements or deterioration in the situation in the area of children's rights," the institution points out.
The Protector notes Montenegro's drop of eight places compared to 2024, when it was in 39th position, and also warns that the country is in 137th place in the area of child health care.
"And it moved one cluster lower, from cluster 3 to cluster 4. Montenegro recorded a decline in immunization rates, with already low coverage," the Ombudsman's institution emphasizes.
According to data from the national Institute of Public Health, only about 22 percent of children born in 2023 in Montenegro received their first dose of the MMR vaccine, which is the lowest percentage in Europe.
The Ombudsman institution also states that in two previous reports for 2023 and 2024, rankings related to climate change were published experimentally.
"Climate change poses a serious challenge to the realization of children's rights, especially given its proven high impact. For example, according to some data, in 2024 alone, the education of almost a quarter of a billion children was disrupted due to a range of climate hazards, mainly in low- and middle-income countries. The Climate Change Index is measured to take into account countries' responses to climate change, mitigation and adaptation. Currently, this domain is still experimental. Montenegro is in 40th place, which represents a drop of 12 places compared to 2024, when it was in 28th place," the institution of the Protector, headed by Siniša Bjeković, points out.
"Devastating" global crisis in children's mental health
The organization "KidsRights" emphasizes that this year's study shows that more than 14 percent of children and adolescents, aged 10 to 19, worldwide have mental health problems.
“And the average global suicide rate is six per 100.000 among adolescents aged 15 to 19. However, experts warn that these figures represent only the tip of the iceberg, as suicides around the world continue to be significantly underreported due to stigma, misclassification and inadequate reporting mechanisms,” reads a statement on the KidsRights Foundation website.
They warned of a "devastating" global mental health crisis among children and adolescents, which is reaching critical levels.
“Suicide is the third leading cause of death among young people aged 15 to 29, according to the World Health Organization. Despite the scale and urgency of this issue, mental health is one aspect of children's lives that is largely lacking in detailed information and data,” they stressed.
When it comes to the methodology used to produce the report, the foundation claims that the Children's Rights Index "has developed a fully comparable measure of countries' performance on children's rights."
They also explain that the ranking on the Child Rights Index is “the result of an integrated analysis of existing, high-quality data published by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Committee on the Rights of the Child”.
"Specific child rights issues, such as child marriage or the situation of children in armed conflict, are much more common in some countries than in others. This makes it difficult to achieve fair comparisons between countries when scoring such issues in the index. The Index therefore focuses on issues that are equally relevant to all States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and for which, for the most part, reliable data are available," it was specified.
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