October 2005Vol. 6, No. 8New Statistics on the Status of Children
Two new data sets have been released that address the status and well-being of children in the United States. A new feature of the KIDS COUNT Data Book, from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, is an online database that provides State-level statistics on 75 measures and can be accessed by individual State or topical area. KIDS COUNT provides statistics on 10 measures of child well-being, including infant mortality rates, child and teen death rates, teen birth rates, education, and other demographic measures. Both the book and the database can be accessed online at http://www.aecf.org/who-we-help/kids/.
Another resource for obtaining data about the well-being of children is America's Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, the most recent in the annual series published by the Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics. The report presents the latest available data on 25 indicators related to economic security, health, social environment, and education, as well as background measures related to population and family characteristics. The report can be accessed online at www.childstats.gov.