THOUSANDS of girls in Gwent are unhappy with their appearance according to the latest Good Childhood Report.

The Children’s Society’s annual state-of-the-nation review of young people’s well-being finds an estimated 13,000 girls aged 10-15 across Wales say they are not happy with their lives overall – one in seven of all girls in that age group.

In Gwent the number of girls aged 10-15 is 19, 340. The number of girls who are unhappy with life as a whole is 2,630 but the number of girls who are unhappy with their appearance was much higher at 6,498.

South Wales Argus:

(The estimated number of girls unhappy in Wales from the Children's Society)

The picture is even starker when it comes to personal appearance, with the number of 10-15 year-old girls who do not feel happy with their looks reaching 32,000 across Wales – more than a third (34 per cent) of the total.

The proportion of girls in the nation who say they are unhappy with their lives or their appearance is based on the proportion for the UK as a whole.

Matthew Reed, chief executive of The Children’s Society, said: It is desperately worrying that so many of our young people in Wales are suffering rather than thriving. Girls are having a particularly tough time and it’s clear that concerted action is needed to tackle this problem.”

Across the UK, an estimated 283,000 girls say they are not happy with their lives overall and 700,000 do not feel happy with their looks.

The picture for girls is even worse than it was five years previously, with the number unhappy overall up 21 per cent between 2009/10 and 2013/14 and the number unhappy with their appearance in particular up 8 per cent over the same period.

In contrast to the deteriorating situation for girls, the proportion of boys aged 10-15 who are unhappy with their lives has remained stable at one in nine, while the proportion of boys who say they are unhappy with their appearance continues to hover around 20 per cent.

Separate research by the Office for National Statistics suggests that girls are much more likely to spend extended periods on social media, which has been linked to a higher risk of mental ill-health.

The Good Childhood Report is a collaboration between The Children’s Society and the University of York.

The Children’s Society is calling on the Welsh Government to take action to improve children’s happiness across the nation with a legal entitlement for children to be able to access mental health and well-being support in schools and FE colleges across Wales.