A new United Nations study suggests Canada lags behind other industrialized nations when it comes to child welfare.

Child Poverty in Perspective: An Overview of Child Development in Rich Countries, the seventh report from UNICEF's Innocenti Research Centre, ranks Canada 12th overall for child well-being among 21 developed countries.

How Canada ranked in 21-nation study  
 Category  Position
 Material well-being  6
 Health and safety  13
 Educational well-being  2
 Family and peer relationships  18
 Behaviours and risks  17
 Subjective well-being  15

The report released Wednesday compares countries in six categories and averages the results to compile an overall ranking.

European countries dominated the top half of the list, led by the Netherlands, Sweden and Denmark.

The United Kingdom, however, came in last, with the United States placing second-last.

Canada was tied with Greece for 12th place, and found itself in the bottom third in three categories: family and peer relationships; behaviours and risks; and subjective well-being.

Canada had the highest percentage of children aged 11 to 15 who had experimented with cannabis and an increasing childhood obesity rate.

But it wasn't all bad news for Canada. The country placed second in the educational well-being category and sixth for material well-being.

Laurel Rothman, national co-ordinator of advocacy group Campaign 2000, told CBC.ca she wasn't surprised to see Canada place in the middle of the pack.

But she did question Canada's high rank in the material well-being category, a category that examined relative income poverty, children living in households without an employed adult and measures of deprivation.

"One thing to remember is, while it is important for households to have jobs, in Canada we still have one in three children in a home with someone who is employed, but still living in poverty," said Rothman.

She said that the way the data was gathered could also influence the outcome. The study looked at what researchers called a representative sample of children from each country but Rothman said in Canada an accurate sample would have to include First Nations children as well as children who speak English as a second language.