The UAE has been ranked first in the region for the 'best country with positive play habits in children'.

The fourth edition of Fun City Children's Play Index released new inclusion of research data from developed global nations such as UK Australia Sweden Singapore and China in addition to the regional countries of UAE Oman Bahrain and Qatar at a press event in Dubai on Tuesday February 23.

This global index result positioned UAE at the First rank regionally as the best country with positive play habits in children among the region in all the three age groups of (2-5 years old) (6-8 years old) and (9-12 years old). Globally it ranks 3rd in the (9-12) age group and 4th in (2-5) and (6-8) age group.

This ranking in the age group 9-12 years highlights the impressive effort and work by the government illustrating a clear focus in spreading nationwide positive awareness about the importance of play for children's overall development in UAE by bringing about a balance between scholastic and leisure activities.

The 4th edition of the play index has been extended to global territories to understand children's play behavior social factors and the curricular mandates adopted in these globally advanced countries.

The Index has been computed based on scientifically concluded qualitative inputs from nine psychologists and school counselors weighing the significance of activities undertaken by children from different age groups and their related impact on children's development translated in "influencing powers" in addition to the quantitative data of play time activities that were analyzed form more than 2235 mothers of children between 2-12 years of age residing in United Kingdom Sweden Singapore China Australia United Arab Emirates Qatar Bahrain and Oman.

Aamnah Husain Qualified Psychologist and Parenting Expert said "The initiative has prompted a huge social awareness and change towards one of the most basic and essential needs of a child; "Play"." She added: "Digital gaming seems to be one of the most coveted activities amongst children and for that I emphasize on the need for parental control and supervision in this area."