Europe's precious children

urope, 'the old world', is ageing rapidly. Fertility rates have fallen far below replacement levels, and children have become a precious commodity. Value surveys show that although the acceptance of a childless life has increased, par- ticularly in Western Europe, the large majority of Europeans want to have children. They are also strongly devoted to their children, as is shown when they are asked whether parents should 'do their best for their children even at the expense of their own well-being'. With the exception of Lithuania and Belarus, where <50% of respondents agree with this statement, in all other European countries a large majority agrees. The highest levels of agreement with this statement are found in the former Yugoslavia, for example in Croatia (90%) and Bosnia and Herzegovina (88%).1 Children are an important priority for public health too. During the 20th century, many interventions, services, and policies have been developed and implemented which target children's health, such as vaccinations, screening programmes, and child benefit schemes. Partly as a result of those efforts, and partly as a result of general improvements in prosperity and other environmental conditions, the health of European chil- dren has spectacularly improved. This can most easily be seen on the basis of mortality statistics: during the 20th century, infant, child, and adolescent mortality rates have typically fallen by >95%.2 This is not to say that, at the start of the 21st century, youth health no longer poses challenges for public health in Europe. It is quite the reverse, as illustrated by the large number of papers on youth health which this journal receives. Most of the previous issues of this journal in 2005 have had a section on 'youth health', and the papers which we have published show that there are serious threats to youth health which deserve public health's attention. The papers which we have published on youth health this year can be divided in three groups: specific diseases, health-related behaviours, and psychosocial and mental health.