Hawaii’s rank drops in 2010 Kids Count Data Book

The 21st annual Kids Count Data Book, produced by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, ranked Hawaii 22nd in its state-by-state study on the well-being of children in the United States.

Compared to the 2009 report, Hawaii improved in its percentage of low birth-weight babies and the teen death rate, but worsened in terms of the infant mortality rate; the percentage of teens ages 16–19 who are not in school and are not high school graduates; and the percentage of children under age 18 in single-parent families. More state and community-level data for Hawaii can be found at http://datacenter.kidscount.org/hi.

Important points to note:

• Hawaii has one of the lowest teen death rates and percentage of children in poverty—ranking second in the nation for those two indicators.
• Hawaii’s overall rank has steadily fallen over the past four years, from 11 in 2007 to 22 in 2010.

Nationally, five of the 10 key indicators of child well-being show improvement: the infant mortality rate, the child death rate, the teen death rate, the teen birth rate, and the percentage of teens not in school and who are not high school graduates. Child well-being worsened on three indicators: the percentage of low birth-weight babies, the child poverty rate, and the percentage of children living in single-parent families.