Infant mortality rate drops, children more likely to have working parent, be read to Children in America are less likely to die during infancy than they were in previous years, less likely to smoke in 8th or 10th grade, and less likely to give birth during adolescence, according to the 6th annual report, America's Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, 2002. The report also noted improvements in some of the economic security indicators: children are more likely to have at least one working parent and to have health insurance. Moreover, children from ages 3 to 5 are more likely to be read to daily by a family member. The America's Children report monitors the status of children in the United States and contains information on population and family characteristics. Most of the report's other indicators on the well-being of the country's children either remain unchanged from the previous year or did not change in a statistically significant manner. Among them: the child poverty rate (16 percent in 2000), the percentage of children who were adequately immunized (76 percent in 2000), the number of 12th grade students who smoked daily (19 percent in 2001) and the number of 12thgraders who said they drank 5 or more alcoholic beverages in a row in the last 2 weeks (30 percent in 2001). Although many indicators show no significant change from the previous year, they often illustrate a larger trend that took place over several years. For example, the number of 12th grade students who smoked daily has shown a downward trend since 1993.
Today's children are more diverse than in previous years. The number of Hispanic children has been growing faster in recent years than any other group, and the percentage of Asian/Pacific Islander children doubled between 1980 and 2000. In addition, the report's special feature noted that in 2001, 19 percent of American children lived with at least one parent who was foreign born.
Among the favorable trends for America's children was a drop in the infant mortality rate. In 1999, there were 7.0 deaths for every thousand live births. By comparison, the infant mortality rate was 7.2 deaths per 1000 live births in both 1997 and 1998.
"The drop in infant mortality is very encouraging," said Duane Alexander, M.D., director of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. "Infant mortality is a stubborn, resistant problem, so even a slight decline is a victory."
Dr. Alexander noted that Healthy People 2000, a series of national health objectives published by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, set a goal for reducing the infant mortality rate to 7.0 per 1000 live births by the year 2000.
"This means we have met the Healthy People 2000 goal a year early," Dr. Alexander said.
The report, compiled by the Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics, presents a comprehensive look at critical areas of child well-being, including economic security, health status, behavior, social environment, and education.
Full Story: http://www.nichd.nih.gov/new/releases/americas02.cfm
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