Nordic Companies Continue to Lead on Children’s Rights—But Signs of Slowdown Point to a Leadership Plateau

 22 October – Stockholm: Today, Global Child Forum and Boston Consulting Group (BCG) released the Children’s Rights and Business Benchmark 2025, which assesses 1,806 of the world’s largest and most influential companies.

The findings reaffirm the Nordics as out-performing globally, with companies scoring an average of 6.3, 28% above the global average (5.0). Nordic businesses continue to demonstrate strong governance, transparent reporting, and workplace policies that protect young workers and parents alike.

However, the report also reveals a slowdown in progress, with the region’s average score increasing by just +3% year-on-year, compared to +21% in both Latin America and the Middle East & North Africa (MENA). The data suggests that Nordic companies—many of which are already highly mature in their sustainability and human rights practices—may now be facing a performance ceiling. 

“The Nordics have long been global front-runners when it comes to respecting and supporting children’s rights,” said Ekin Björstedt, Secretary General of Global Child Forum. “But leadership is not a static position. The next step is to turn strong policies into measurable outcomes—particularly in the marketplace, where children directly interact with companies’ products, marketing, and online environments.” 

The report highlights continued excellence in Governance (7.2) and Workplace (7.7), but persistent weakness in the Marketplace impact area, where regional scores remain below 4.0 for consumer-facing companies. This includes issues such as responsible marketing, product safety, and online child protection—areas increasingly under scrutiny as children spend more time in digital spaces. 

“Nordic companies have built a solid foundation for responsible business,” said Johan Öberg, Managing Director and Senior Partner at BCG. “But to maintain global leadership, they need to move from policy to proof—showing concrete results for children through innovation, safer digital products, and transparent impact reporting.” 

 Technology and Telecommunications dominate the Nordic top ten 

All six Technology & Telecommunications companies in the Nordics—among them Telia, Tele2, and Telenor—are ranked within the region’s top ten. This strong presence highlights the sector’s leadership in digital governance. Globally, the sector achieved an impressive average score of 6.5, significantly outperforming the overall average. 

While the Nordics continue to lead, the next frontier will come from innovation that delivers proof of outcomes for children, especially in the Marketplace. Think age-appropriate design by default, safer digital products and marketing, child-centered testing and co-design, and products that support children’s health —paired with supply-chain traceability and parent-supportive workplace models. This is how leaders move beyond policies into impact. 

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Linda Ravin Lodding
Head of Communications 
Global Child Forum
+46 (0) 72 387 0248