How are the kids?

• Author: Flores, Qiana Torres
• Position: TRENDS

Are American kids better off today than they were in 1990? In the areas of health, education and safety, the answer is "yes," according to the 2014 Annie E. Casey Foundation's KIDS COUNT Data Book, the 25th annual report card on children's well-being.

Important Strides

* Child and teen mortality declined from 46 deaths per 100,000 in 1990 to 26 deaths per 100,000 in 2010.

* More children have health insurance: In 1990, 87 percent of children were covered, compared with 91 percent in 2012.

* More children ages 3-4 are in preschool: 38 percent in 1990, compared with 51 percent in 2012.

* Reading has improved: 27 percent of fourth graders were proficient in reading in 1992; in 2013, the portion had grown to 34 percent.

* Teen births have declined dramatically, from 60 births per 1,000 young women in 1990 to less than half that--29 births per 1,000--in 2012.

But the foundation, which looked at data from the Census Bureau's Current Population Survey and other sources, also found troubling trends. Among them was high poverty, especially among children of color, who make up nearly half of the child population.

Troubling Trends

* In 2012, 23 percent of children lived in poverty--16.4 million children in households with incomes of $23,283 or less for a family of two adults and two children or $16,057 for one adult and a child.

* By ethnicity, the percentages of children living in poverty in 2012 were: African-American, 40 percent; Native American, 37 percent; Hispanic, 34; Asian, 15; and non-Hispanic white, 14.

* More children live in poor communities; in 1990,11 percent lived in a neighborhood where the poverty rate was 30 percent or higher. The rate was 13 percent in 2012.

* Thirty-five percent of children lived in a single-parent household in 2012, an increase of 10 percent over 1990.

The authors conclude that while important improvements have been made in children's well-being overall, too many children of color "begin their lives with multiple disadvantages," including poverty, fragile families, violent neighborhoods and lack of educational opportunities. "Improving outcomes for all children is essential for our nation to remain strong, stable and globally competitive," the report concluded.--Qiana Torres Flores, NCSL

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