Teenagers in Britain have come bottom of the table in a study of life satisfaction among youngsters in Europe.  

In the Children's Society study of 24 European countries, British teens came last when asked to rate their life satisfaction. 

Less than two thirds (64%) of British 15-year-olds rated their life satisfaction at six or more out of 10, placing them far behind teens of the same age in Romania (85%). 

British 15-year-olds also came bottom when asked if they had a "positive sense of purpose", with 57% agreeing or strongly agreeing, well below the more than three quarters of Romanian (79%) and French (72%) teenagers who felt the same. 

While two thirds of teens in Slovenia said they "rarely" or "never" felt sad, this dropped to 40% of UK teenagers, the second lowest out of the 24 countries. 

The Children's Society said low levels of life satisfaction were linked to "changes in child poverty", which increased around 4 percentage points in the UK between 2015 and 2018.

The report added that there were "relatively high" levels of a "fear of failure" among British 15-year-olds compared to other countries in the study. 

It suggested that the UK education system be "reset" to promote good attainment and wellbeing. 

Mark Russell, chief executive of the Children's Society, said: "We all want our children to grow up happy, and as a society we can't be content with children in the UK being the most unsatisfied with their lives in Europe.

"It has to change. Even before the pandemic, which we know has taken a huge toll on our children's wellbeing, many felt their life didn't have a sense of purpose." 

Richard Crellin, policy manager at the Children's Society, said there was "significant" pressure on British children to succeed, especially at school. 

"This has consequences for wellbeing," he said.

"Good exam results are seen as the key to future success and often prosperity, so children feel incredibly anxious about what will happen if they don't do well.

"It is therefore vital that we rethink what it means to fail and to succeed. An educational culture which tells children they only have 'one shot' at success in school places unnecessary pressure on young people.

"Learning should be a lifelong endeavour and not something that feeds fear and distress."