However, cause for concern in the case of Slovenia is youth health and risk behaviours, UNICEF Slovenija said as the report was released by the UNICEF Innocenti Research Centre on Wednesday.

The survey, carried out among member states of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), shows that the well-being of children is not directly linked to the country's wealth, but depends to a large extent on government policies.

Slovenia for example ranks higher than France, the UK or Canada and is the highest ranked country of Central and Eastern Europe, right after Belgium, Denmark and Ireland.

The top-ranking country is the Netherlands, followed by four north European countries: Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden.

The report looks into the well-being of children in terms of material well-being, health and safety, education, behaviour and risks and housing and environment.

Slovenia's high position on the list is the product of long-term investment in child protection, UNICEF Slovenija noted in a written statement.

But the organisation added that the economic turmoil in the past three years impacted on the well-being of children in Slovenia as well, which is not yet reflected in the survey.

Slovenia places 8th in terms of children's material situation, 5th by education and 6th in terms of health and safety, where it has the second-lowest infant mortality rate after Iceland.

But the country fares much poorer in terms of children's and young people's behaviour and risks, where it places 21st.

Slovenia has the highest youth obesity rate among countries of Central and Eastern Europe with 18% of children aged 11, 13 and 15 who are overweight.

It also has the lowest proportion among all OECD countries of children who regularly eat breakfast at 43.6%. Only 40% of children eat fruit every day.

On a more positive side, 21% report at least one hour of moderate-to- vigorous physical activity daily.

But the country ranks 21st by the percentage of teenagers who report having been drunk on more than two occasions, and 22nd by the percentage of those who report having used cannabis in the last 12 months.

Moreover, 42% of teenagers report having been involved in fighting in the past 12 months and 21% of being bullied.

Slovenia ranks 20th by housing and environment and 24th in terms of children's exposure to air pollution.