Here's How America's Children Are Doing In These Hard Times

2011 KIDS COUNT Data Book

National and state-by-state data on key indicators of child well-being.

The Annie E. Casey Foundation

http://datacenter.kidscount.org/databook/2011/

[Some Selected Highlights:]

THE POVERTY LINE

For a family of four, the 2011 federal poverty level is $22,350 a year. However, this measure has not been revised since the 1960s. The current federal poverty measure equals about 30 percent of median household income, whereas in the 1960s, the poverty level was nearly 50 percent of the median.

As a result, the official poverty measure is widely acknowledged to be an inaccurate depiction of a family’s ability to meet basic needs. Research shows that families with incomes between 100 and 200 percent of the poverty level face material hardships and financial pressures similar to families officially counted as poor. For example, missed rent payments, utility shutoffs, inadequate access to health care, unstable child care arrangements, and food insecurity are experiences common among families with income below 200 percent of the poverty level.

Research suggests that to meet their basic needs, families actually need an income of roughly twice the official poverty level ($44,700 a year for a family of four), which can include benefits like the Earned Income Tax Credit or Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

To assess economic well-being, analysts refer to families with income below 200 percent of poverty as “low income” and use this standard in addition to the official poverty measure.

KEY INDICATORS

Almost 11 percent of our nation’s children had at least one unemployed parent in 2010, affecting nearly 8 million children. This number more than doubled between 2007

and 2010. African-American children were nearly twice as likely as white children to have an unemployed parent. Children whose more highly educated parent had only a high school diploma were far more likely to experience parental unemployment than children with a college-educated parent (see Table 1). [snip]

Table 1

10 Key Indicators of Child Well-Being, National Average: 2000 and 2007/2008/2009

KEY INDICATORS	Yr of Avg	2000	2007/2008/2009	% CHANGE
Percent low-birth weight babies	2008	7.2%	8.7%	8.0%
Infant mortality rate (deaths per 1,000 live births)	2007	6.9	6.8	-1%
Child death rate (deaths per 100,000 children ages 1–14)	2007	22	19	-14%
Teen death rate (deaths per 100,000 teens ages 15–19	2007	67	62	-7%
Teen birth rate  (births per 1,000 females ages 15–19)	2008	48	41	-15%
Teens not in school and not high school graduates (ages 16–19)	2009	11%	6%	- 45%
Teens not attending school and not working (ages 16–19)	2009	n/a	9	n/a
Children living in families where no parent has full-time, year-round employment	2009	n/a	31	n/a
Children in poverty (income below $21,756 for a family of two adults and two children in 2009)	2009	17%	20%	18%
Children in single-parent families	2009	31%	34%	10%

RACE AND ETHNICITY

Not all children have the same opportunities to succeed. Some children, particularly children of color, face greater barriers to achieving success as they move through childhood and adolescence. Table 2 provides national statistics for the five largest racial and Hispanic origin groups on each of the 10 measures of child well-being used to rank states. To access state-level data for these racial and Hispanic origin groups for our 10 key indicators, visit the KIDS COUNT Data Center.

Nationally, the differences in child wellbeing across racial and Hispanic origin lines

vary by indicator. Since 2000, gaps in the differences in child well-being along racial

and ethnic lines have decreased in some areas—most notably, the high school dropout

rate. However, on the whole, non-Hispanic white and Asian and Pacific Islander children continue to have better outcomes on the 10 indicators we track, compared with the

other large racial and Hispanic origin groups.  Comparative trends and state-level data for

the information contained in Table 2 can be found at the KIDS COUNT Data Center.

Table 2

10 Key Indicators of Child Well-Being by Race and Hispanic Origin: 2007/2008/2009

KEY INDICATORS	Nation’s Average	White non-his.	Black Afr-Am	Asian/Pacif Islander	Native American	Hispanic Latino
Percent low-birth weight babies	8.2%	7.2%	13.4%	8.2%	7.4%	7.0%
Infant mortality rate (deaths per 1,000 live births)	6.8	5.6	13.2	3.8	8.7	5.7
Child death rate (deaths per 100,000 children ages 1–14)	19	17	27	14	28	18
Teen death rate (deaths per 100,000 teens ages 15–19	62	58	83	33	87	58
Teen birth rate  (births per 1,000 females ages 15–19)	41	26	63	16	58	78
Teens not in school and not high school graduates (ages 16–19)	6%	4%	8%	3%	13%	10%
Teens not attending school and not working (ages 16–19)	9%	7%	13%	5%	17%	12%
Children living in families where no parent has full-time, year-round employment	31%	24%	47%	22%	49%	39%
Children in poverty (income below $21,756 for a family of two adults and two children in 2009)	20%	12%	36%	13%	35%	31%
Children in single-parent families	34%	24%	67%	16%	53%	40%

  

STATE RANKINGS

Table 3 provides a summary of results from this year’s KIDS COUNT Data Book and

highlights the enormous variation among the states. The rates of the worst states are

approximately two to four times those of the best states on every indicator.The importance of reporting state-level data is underscored by the fact that most

measures in most states are statistically significantly different from the national value

for each measure. In other words, the national value for a measure does not tell you much

about most states. Tables showing the statistical significance of differences among states

and changes over time are provided at the KIDS COUNT Data Center. [snip]

Table 3

10 Key Indicators of Child Well-Being, Highest and Lowest Ranking States: 2007/2008/2009

KEY INDICATORS	Highest Rank	Highest State	Lowest Rank	Lowest State
Percent low-birth weight babies	6.0%	Alaska	11.8%	Mississippi
Infant mortality rate (deaths per 1,000 live births)	4.8	Washington	10.0	Mississippi
Child death rate (deaths per 100,000 children ages 1–14)	9	Rhode Island	34	Mississippi
Teen death rate (deaths per 100,000 teens ages 15–19	35	Vermont	100	Alaska
Teen birth rate  (births per 1,000 females ages 15–19)	20	Massachusetts New Hampshire	66	Mississippi
Teens not in school and not high school graduates (ages 16–19)	3%	New Hampshire New Jersey	11%	Navada
Teens not attending school and not working (ages 16–19)	5%	New Hampshire	15%	West Virginia
Children living in families where no parent has full-time, year-round employment	21%	North Dakota	39%	Mississippi
Children in poverty (income below $21,756 for a family of two adults and two children in 2009)	11%	New Hampshire	31%	Mississippi
Children in single-parent families	18%	Utah	48%	Mississippi

It is our hope that the KIDS COUNT Data Book and the accompanying KIDS COUNT

Data Center will help raise the visibility of children’s issues on the national agenda and

serve as a tool for advocates, policymakers, and others to make better decisions.

http://datacenter.kidscount.org/databook/2011/OnlineBooks/2011KCDB_FINAL_S_f.pdf