U.S. Child Population Grows and Changes: 74 Million Kids to Shape Future of More Diverse America

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Jun 17, 2019, 03:00 ET

BALTIMORE, June 17, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The Annie E. Casey Foundation today urged policymakers to prioritize policies that would expand opportunity for America's 74 million children, noting measurable but still inadequate progress over the past three decades to ensure all children can realize their full potential.

The 30th edition of the KIDS COUNT Data Book — the most comprehensive annual report on child well-being in the United States — notes progress in helping children thrive since the first Data Book was published in 1990. But it finds the nation has failed to tear down barriers affecting children of color.

The 2019 KIDS COUNT^® Data Book will be available June 17 at 12:01 a.m. EDT at www.aecf.org.

"All of the 74 million kids in our increasingly diverse country have unlimited potential, and we have the data, knowledge and evidence to create the policies that will help them realize it," said Casey Foundation president and CEO, Lisa Hamilton.

Children in the United States had a better chance at thriving in 2017 than in 1990 — with improvements in 11 of the 16 KIDS COUNT index measures of child well-being — but racial and ethnic disparities persisted.
One in six American kids grew up in poverty.
2017 was the first year since 2010 that saw an increase in the number of uninsured kids.
New Hampshire and Massachusetts are again in first and second place in the Data Book state rankings, followed by Iowa, Minnesota and New Jersey.
Mississippi (48), Louisiana (49) and New Mexico (50) are again the lowest-ranked states.
The South and West contain the 18 lowest-ranked states.

The 2019 Data Book also explores the growth in America's child population since 1990.

The U.S. child population increased from 64.2 million to 73.7 million between 1990 and 2017.
All 15 of the states where growth in the child population outpaced the national average since 1990 are in the South or West.

The percentage of American children who were Latino more than doubled from 12 to 26 percent. The proportion of Asian and Pacific Islander children also doubled, from 3 to 6 percent.

Direct lines can be drawn between areas of improvement in well-being— and policies that have supported these successes. The Data Book offers the Casey Foundation's recommendations for policy improvements.