Children have seen improvement on measures of health and education nationally over the past five years, but indicators in economic well-being and “family and community” still lag, according to an annual report by the Annie E. Casey Foundation.
Overall, 10 of the 16 indicators that the foundation tracks improved. All four measures under the “health” outcome—percentage of low-birth-weight babies, percentage of children with health insurance, child and teenage deaths per 100,000 youths, and percentage of teenagers who abuse alcohol or drugs—improved between 2008 and 2013.
But the report does note that the childhood-poverty rate, at 22 percent in 2013, was still higher than it was in 2008, at 18 percent. And more children were living in areas of concentrated poverty.
