Boys have become as unhappy about their looks as girls over the past decade, a study by the Children’s Society has found.

       The charity warned of a “deeply distressing” downward trend in the wellbeing of children, as its research found a sharp increase in the number of boys troubled by their appearance.

       Historically, the proportion of girls unhappy with how they look has been greater than boys, but this has drawn closer to parity over the past decade.

       The charity carried out its 10th annual review of data collected as part of the Office for National Statistics' Understanding Society survey.

       A decade ago, it was found that around 7.8 per cent of boys expressed unhappiness about their appearance - but this has now risen to around 13 per cent.

       Ten years ago, the proportion of girls expressing similar concerns was roughly double that of boys, at 15.7 per cent, but the latest data showed the gap had narrowed, 14.9 per cent compared to 13 per cent.

       Campaigners warned the alarming downward trend in wellbeing would have been worsened by the pandemic.

       Tom Madders, the director of campaigns at the mental health charity YoungMinds, said: "The last year has been incredibly difficult for lots of young people, with many struggling to cope with social isolation, loneliness and worries about the future."

       The Children’s Society report found that 6.7 per cent of children aged 10 to 15 were not happy with their lives in 2018-19, up from 3.8 per cent in 2009-10.

       Extrapolating this to population level, this suggests that 306,000 children are unhappy - up from an estimated 173,000 children a decade ago.

       Worries about school and appearance were key factors thought to be behind the decline in happiness, the report found.

       And 4 per cent of children aged 10 to 17 were found not to be coping with the pandemic and to have low wellbeing, according to the society's own survey of more than 2,000 young people between April and June in the UK.

       Mark Russell, The Children's Society chief executive, said these "worrying trends" must not be allowed to worsen.

       He said: "It's deeply distressing to see that children's wellbeing is on a ten-year downward trend and on top of this a number of young people have not coped well with the pandemic.

       "Children's happiness with their lives has the potential to have far-reaching consequences, and has been linked to their attainment and mental health as well as their safety and hopes for the future.”