The Child Indicators Movement: Past, Present, and Future

The effort to measure and monitor children's well-being and the use of child well-being indicators is not new. However, recent years have brought new and growing attention to the field, and some argue, the revival of the children's social indicators movement. Much of this new activity can be traced back to the 1960s social indicators movement and be accounted for by UNICEF's State of the World's Children annual report, as well as other international and national initiatives and projects. The United Nation's Convention on the Rights of the Child, through its global ratification and its reporting and monitoring mechanism, has also played a major role in increasing interest in the field. This paper presents the history and development of the field, identifies current trends, and predicts where the field is headed.