Festival site (archive image)
Photo: Ingo Wagner / picture alliance / dpa
How much e-waste does a country produce?
What is the contribution to climate change?
Scientists from the Unicef research center Innocenti looked at how many resources the inhabitants of individual countries use.
If all people consumed as much as the population in the European Union and OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) countries examined, 3.3 planets like Earth would be necessary, the scientists conclude.
For example, if each person were to consume as many resources as the inhabitants of Canada, Luxembourg and the USA, at least five Earths would be required, Unicef said in Cologne.
In Germany, too, the consumption of resources is too high: on a global scale, 2.9 earths are needed for the way of life of the Germans.
Data from 39 countries in the OECD and the European Union were collected for the Unicef report.
The researchers wanted to find out how well each country managed to create a healthy, child-friendly environment.
At the same time, the associated ecological footprint was also checked.
At the top of the country ranking that came about in this way are Spain, Ireland and Portugal.
In comparison, these three countries provide a good environment for the children living there and contribute less to global environmental problems.
Germany is in the top third of the ranking in 9th place.
The behavior of some of the richest countries in the world, such as Australia, Belgium, Canada or the USA, has a particularly strong impact on the global environment.
At the same time, these countries are at the bottom of the international comparison when it comes to creating a healthy environment for their own children.
So they do particularly poorly.
"The majority of rich countries fail to provide a healthy environment for all children within their borders and, moreover, contribute to the destruction of children's habitats in other parts of the world," concludes Gunilla Olsson, director of Innocenti.
"In some cases, we find that countries that provide a relatively healthy environment for children at home are also among the largest producers of pollutants that destroy children's environments in other countries."
kha/dpa