The research on indicators on the state of child well-being is a growing field and one that has
experienced several changes through time. Due to the growing supply of data on children, and
in order to facilitate conclusions and tracking trends, researchers have been led to develop
child well-being summary indexes. Several proposals have already been presented. In the
present work, we critically review the most prominent summary child well-being indexes
recently constructed, the Index of Child and Youth Well-Being in the United States, the Child
Well-being Index for the European Union, the Microdata Child Well-Being Index, and the
Deprivation Index. The examination is carried out according to the contributions and
innovations the indexes have brought to the field. A critical assessment of the methods used in
the construction of the indexes is made and their main limitations identified. Accordingly,
some future lines of research to improve child well-being measurement through summary
indexes are put forward.