German children largely satisfied with friends: study

German children are satisfied, to a large extent, with their friends, according to the Goethe University in Frankfurt which released results of a study on children on Wednesday.

Children's Worlds, the International Survey of Children's Well-Being (ISCWeB), interviewed more than 50,000 children in 15 different countries about their time use, perceptions, and evaluations of their well-being.

"Children in Germany are satisfied to a large extent with their friends," said Sabine Andresen from Goethe University, who was also study director of the well-being of German children for the German results.

"Generally, well-being decreases for twelve-year-olds, especially girls, are less satisfied with their appearance. Compared with other countries, children in Germany know less about their rights," said Sabine.

In European countries, children were more satisfied by their friendships, while children from African countries tended to be happier with school life.

Children in Northern European countries, however, were particularly unhappy with their appearance and self-confidence.

According to the study, the majority of the 53,000 children surveyed in the 15 countries assessed their life satisfaction on the whole on a scale from zero to 10.

The percentage of children who had a very high level of well-being varied from country to country.

Topping the chart were Turkey, with 78 percent, as well as Romania and Colombia with 77 percent, while only 40 percent of children in South Korea were found to have a high level of well-being. Endit