This report continues a series of annual reports to the Nation on conditions affecting children in the United States. Three demographic background measures and 40 selected indicators describe the population of children and depict child well-being in the areas of family and social environment, economic circumstances, health care, physical environment and safety, behavior, education, and health. This year's report has a special feature on children with special health care needs. Highlights from each section follow.
Demographic Background
* In 2008, there were 73.9 million children ages 0–17 in the United States (or 24 percent of the population) down from a peak of 36 percent at the end of the "baby boom" (1964). Children are projected to remain a fairly stable percentage of the total population through 2021, when they are projected to compose 24 percent of the population.
* Racial and ethnic diversity in the United States continues to increase over time. In 2008, 56 percent of U.S. children were White, non-Hispanic; 22 percent were Hispanic; 15 percent were Black; 4 percent were Asian; and 5 percent were of other races. The percentage of children who are Hispanic has increased faster than that of any other racial or ethnic group, growing from 9 percent of the child population in 1980 to 22 percent in 2008.
Family and Social Environment
* In 2008, 67 percent of children ages 0–17 lived with two married parents, down from 77 percent in 1980.
* The nonmarital birth rate in 2007 was 53 births per 1,000 unmarried women ages 15–44 years. The nonmarital birth rate has increased annually since 2000–2002, when it was relatively stable at 44 births per 1,000. In 2007, 40 percent of all births were to unmarried women, the highest percentage ever reported. This percentage has increased from 34 percent in 2002.
* In 2008, 19 percent of children were native children with at least one foreign-born parent, and 3 percent were foreign-born children with at least one foreign-born parent. Overall, the percentage of all children living in the United States with at least one foreign-born parent rose from 15 percent in 1994 to 22 percent in 2008.
* In 2007, 21 percent of school-age children spoke a language other than English at home and 5 percent of school-age children both spoke a language other than English at home and had difficulty speaking English.
* In 2007, the adolescent birth rate was 22.2 per 1,000 young women ages 15–17, up from the 2006 rate of 22.0 per 1,000. This was the second consecutive year of increase in this rate after dropping by almost half from 1991 to 2005.
Economic Circumstances
* In 2007, 18 percent of all children ages 0–17 lived in poverty, an increase from 17 percent in 2006. Among children living in families, the poverty rate was also 18 percent in 2007.
* The percentage of children who had at least one parent working year round, full time was 77 percent in 2007, down from 78 percent in 2006.
* The percentage of children living in households with very low food security among children increased from 0.6 percent in 2006 to 0.9 percent in 2007. In these households, eating patterns of one or more children were disrupted and food intake was reduced below a level considered adequate by caregivers.
Health Care
* In 2007, 89 percent of children had health insurance coverage at some point during the year, up from 88 percent in 2006. The number of children without health insurance at any time during 2007 was 8.1 million (11 percent of all children).
* In 2007, 77 percent of children ages 19–35 months had received the recommended combined six-vaccine series. Reporting for this combined six-vaccine series began in 2002, and percentages have steadily increased from 66 percent.
* In 2007, 77 percent of children ages 2–17 had a dental visit in the past year. In 2003–2004, 25 percent of children ages 2–17 had untreated dental caries (cavities), an increase from 21 percent in 1999–2002.
Physical Environment and Safety
* In 2007, 66 percent of children lived in counties in which one or more air pollutants were above allowable levels. Ozone is the pollutant that is most often above the allowable levels as defined by the Primary National Ambient Air Quality Standards.
* Children's exposure to secondhand smoke, as indicated by blood cotinine levels, dropped between 1988–1994 and 2005–2006. Overall, 51 percent of children ages 4–11 had cotinine in their blood in 2005–2006, down from 88 percent in 1988–1994. In 2005, 8 percent of children ages 0-6 lived in homes where someone smoked regularly, down from 27 percent in 1994.
* In 2007, 43 percent of households with children had one or more of three housing problems: physical inadequacy, crowding, or a cost burden of more than 30 percent of income. This percentage increased from 30 percent in 1978. The percentage of households with children with severe cost burdens—where more than half of income is spent for housing—rose from 6 percent to 16 percent over the same period.
* In 2005–2006, the leading causes of initial injury-related emergency department (ED) visits among adolescents ages 15–19 were being struck by or against an object or person (26 visits per 1,000); motor vehicle traffic crashes (24 visits per 1,000); and falls (22 visits per 1,000), altogether accounting for about half of all injury-related ED visits for this age group.
Behavior
* Heavy drinking declined from the most recent peaks of 13 percent in 1996 to 8 percent in 2008 for 8th-grade students, from 24 percent in 2000 to 16 percent in 2008 for 10th-grade students, and from 32 percent in 1998 to 25 percent in 2008 for 12th-grade students.
Education
* In 2007, 55 percent of children ages 3–5 who were not yet in kindergarten were read to daily by a family member. This rate is slightly higher than the rate in 1993 (53 percent), but the rate fluctuated in intervening years.
* In 2007, 89 percent of young adults ages 18–24 had completed high school with a diploma or an alternative credential such as a General Education Development (GED) certificate. The high school completion rate has increased slightly since 1980, when it was 84 percent.
* In 2007, 67 percent of high school completers enrolled immediately in a 2-year or 4-year college. Between 1980 and 2007, the rate of immediate college enrollment has trended upward from 49 percent to 67 percent; however, the rate has fluctuated from year to year.
Health
* After several decades of steady increases, the percentage of infants born preterm and the percentage born with low birthweight declined slightly in 2007. The percentage of infants born preterm in 2007 was 12.7, down from 12.8 percent in 2006. The percentage of infants born with low birthweight in 2007 was 8.2, down from 8.3 percent in 2006.
* In 2007, 8 percent of youth ages 12–17 had a Major Depressive Episode (MDE) in the past year, down from 9 percent in 2004. The percentage of youth with MDE receiving treatment for depression in the past year remained stable from 2004 to 2007 (40 percent in 2004 and 39 percent in 2007).
* In 2003–2004, on average, the quality of the diets of younger children was better when compared with that of older children with regard to fruit, milk, and extra calories. The quality of the diets of older children was better with regard to meat, oils, and saturated fat.
* In 2007, about 9 percent of children were reported to currently have asthma, and about 5 percent of children had one or more asthma attacks in the previous year. The prevalence of asthma was particularly high among Black, non-Hispanic children and Puerto Rican children (15 percent in each group).
Children With Special Health Care Needs
* In 2005–2006, an estimated 14 percent of children ages 0–17 had a special health care need, as measured by parents' reports that their child had a health problem expected to last at least 12 months and which required prescription medication, more services than most children, special therapies, or which limited his or her ability to do things most children can do.
Complete report: http://childstats.gov/americaschildren/index.asp
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