Raising Camden: What the New Child Health Equity Report Tells Us About Growing Up in the Borough

Raise Camden and Young Camden Foundation Film featuring our Young Ambassadors and YCF members: KCBNA, Pro Touch SA, HvH Arts, and SYDRC.

Camden Council, in collaboration with the Institute of Health Equity have released a groundbreaking report called Raise Camden: Child Health Equity Data Audit in 2025, painting a detailed picture of what it is like to grow up in the borough today. The report focuses on child poverty, the ways in which it impacts Camden’s children and young people, and what can be done to improve the lives of young Camdeners. The report proposes improvements both to ensure young people’s basic needs are being met, and to support Camden’s young people to thrive, with recommendations around housing, safety, education and health, for all actors within Camden’s youth eco-system. This blog summarises some the report’s most interesting and useful findings.

The report starts off with contextualising Camden’s children and young people in the UK context, where interestingly, teenagers in the UK are amongst the ‘unhappiest’ in Europe, in terms of overall life satisfaction.[1] Inequality in Camden is specifically stark, in a borough where over 40% of children live in poverty, while almost a third attend private education. Interestingly, Camden is also one of two boroughs with a slightly declining birth rate and young population (still over 64,000).

There is a social housing crisis Pan London - and in Camden approximately 600 households with children are living in temporary accommodation.[2] Furthermore, in 2022/23 there were 6,940 children in the borough living in overcrowded housing, meaning around 10% of young people in Camden live in overcrowded accommodation.[3] This is linked to a range of negative outcomes including higher incidence of respiratory disease, through increased risk of damp and poorer educational outcomes.[4] To address overcrowding, the report suggests improving social housing, to prioritise building larger homes, to accommodate for overcrowded households.

Another area of concern is the disparity in safety and feeling safe in Camden, where only 52% of Black Young people compared to 73% of White young people feel safe outside[5]. Findings also suggest that Black boys in particular were socialising less outside, which can have negative effects on their mental health and activity levels.[6] This report therefore emphasises the need for safe ‘third spaces’ for young people outside of school, such as youth clubs and green spaces. The report recommends these be preserved, and also that young people are more involved in the design and monitoring of safe public spaces, as well as allowing CYP to lead social cohesion programmes, which can help to establish a feeling of belonging within our community.

Schools in Camden are also under strain. 24% of pupils in secondary schools were persistently absent in 2023/24 – a rate higher than the London average.[7] Furthermore, children on Free School Meals seem to perform less well in Camden than in other London boroughs, and, boys in Camden are performing worse academically than their counterparts across the capital, regardless of ethnicity.[8] The reason behind these concerns needs better understanding and more in-depth analysis to develop effective solutions, but we know that schools are persistently under strain.

The correlation between higher levels of deprivation and poor health are clear throughout the report. In Camden, CYP living in overcrowded and cold homes, from low-income backgrounds and exposed to higher levels of pollution are likely to have poor mental health outcomes.[9] A suggested action for Camden is to reduce material deprivation and improve housing conditions which could lead to positive impacts on the health of CYP.[10]

The above is a summary of some key findings from the report across a range of factors that are important for children’s health.

While it may seem all doom and gloom, it doesn’t have to be. The report itself represents a significant step in better understanding the inequalities within the borough and establishing some routes to address them. Young people are also being involved in the process, with Young Camden Foundation’s Young Ambassadors have engaged with the findings, sharing their thoughts in a short film.

Finally, we know Camden’s children and young people deserve the very best in their opportunities, and YCF’s incredible members serve Camden’s young people every day, often to help address the inequalities they may be experiencing elsewhere. From arts and sports provision to specialist SEND and employability support, YCF’s members are on the frontlines of supporting Camden’s children and young people. On behalf or our members, we look forward to pushing forward this important agenda, for the benefit of all Young Camdeners.

The Raise Camden: Child Health Equity Data Audit report can be read in full here.

By Grace Maric, HAF Officer

Grace Maric is a Camden resident, and supported YCF’s HAF programme for over two years, most recently as HAF Officer. Grace left YCF in June 2025.

[1] Robert Booth, ‘Happiness Recession’: UK 15- year olds at bottom of European satisfaction league (2024)

[2] Raise Camden: Child Health Equity Data Audit, p5

[3] Raise Camden, p5

[4] Raise Camden, p5

[5]Raise Camden, p6

[6] Raise Camden, p6

[7] Raise Camden, p6

[8] Raise Camden, p.6

[9] Raise Camden, p.6

[10] Raise Camden, p10