By Tara Mancini
Last week, the Annie E. Casey released the 24th edition of its Kids Count data book, a go-to source for trends on child well-being. This year’s analysis of national trends compares data from before and after the recession to see how children fare in its aftermath, and the results paint a mixed picture. Since roughly 2005, all four indicators improved for health and for education. There have been substantial declines in 3 of the 4 economic indicators, although some improved modestly between 2010 and 2011, the most recent year for which there is data. Finally, with regard to family and community, two indicators changed for the better and two worsened.
As you likely know, the report ranks states on the status of child well-being using an index composed of 16 key indicators across 4 domains: education, economics, health, and family and community. (Due to the recent redesign of the index, state data can only be compared to the previous year.) On the composite index New Hampshire, Vermont and Massachusetts rank in the top three, while Nevada, Mississippi and New Mexico rank in the bottom three, respectively.
State rankings are also provided for each individual domain. The health domain measures the percentage of low-birth weight babies, children without health insurance, child and teen death rates, and teens who abuse alcohol or drugs. Maine ranked first in the health domain, followed by Connecticut and then Wisconsin. All three states improved from the previous year, having moved up 2, 4, and 14 spots respectively. However, states at the bottom remain stagnant, as Mississippi, New Mexico, and Montana ranked 48, 49, add 50, respectively, for both 2012 and 2013.
Over the last year, 44 states saw improvements in the percent of children with health insurance, no states saw declines, and 7 (including D.C.) stayed the same. In contrast, child poverty increased in 44 states, remained the same in 6 states and improved only in D.C. The data on children living in high-poverty areas is similar. The stark contrast between increasing child poverty rates and decreasing child uninsurance speaks strongly to the importance of the health care safety-net created by Medicaid and CHIP.
I’ve only given you a small taste of the data that is available in this report. At the Kids Count data center you can view easily accessible information on hundreds of indicators, including more than 40 related to health. As always, this is a great resource that advocates can use to draw attention to the progress made and the challenges that still face children and families in their states.
