Teen death rates drop Hawaii’s Kids Count ranking

According to the 2009 Kids Count study, the well-being of Hawaii's children declined in 2006 and 2007 because of a big jump in child and teen death rates. The teen death rate for ages 15 to 19 rose to 57 per 100,000 in 2006, compared with a rate of 37 a year earlier.

This 54 percent increase resulted in Hawaii’s losing Kids Count’s best ranking. According to the Kids Count report released July 28 by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the number of deaths per 100,000 children ages 1 to 14 also increased in 2006 by 31 percent to 21 deaths from 16 deaths per 100,000 children in 2005.

The leading cause of death for teens in Hawaii is traffic accidents, followed by suicide, state officials said. For children, the primary cause of death is related to conditions at birth, but motor vehicle deaths rank fourth.

Hawaii ranked first in the nation for lowest teen death rate in 2004 and 2005, but dropped to 13th in the latest Kids Count report. The 20th annual data book compared statistics from 2007 to measure children's welfare across the nation. Hawaii's overall ranking dropped to 18th, compared with 13th in 2006. The study showed that the teen birthrate in Hawaii increased in 2006 to 41 from 36 in 2005 for every 1,000 births by 15-to-19-year-olds.

Hawaii improved in five indicators since last year's study and ranked in the top 10 in four categories. The state placed second in the nation for lowest percentage of children in poverty, defined as a four-member family with an income below $21,027.

Sylvia Yuen, the Hawaii Kids Count coordinator and director of the University of Hawaii’s Center on the Family, cautioned that the Kids Count percentage is "really, really understated." A family of four in Hawaii would need $57,893 to cover bare minimum expenses, she said, citing research from center.

"The data is accurate in the sense they used federal poverty guidelines, but the cost of living is higher in Hawaii," Yuen added.

The state placed third for high school dropouts (ages 16-19) at 4 percent in 2007, compared with a national average of 7 percent. Hawaii also placed 10th for infant mortality rate and percentage of children in single-parent families.

Other indicators that improved include the percent of low birth-weight babies and the number of children living in families where no parent has full-time, year-round employment, which includes children living with a single parent or neither parent.

New Hampshire, Minnesota and Utah ranked in the top three of the report, while Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi placed last on the list.