Kids’ Well-Being Improves, But Poverty and Health Worsen

Smoking, illegal drug use and teen birth rates are down among U.S. children, but poverty and health problems – particularly due to obesity – are worsening, according to a new report on kids’ well-being.

Children’s overall well-being has improved just 4.5 percent since 1975, according to the 2005 Index of Child Well-Being, which has gauged how well children are faring in this country for the last 30 years.

This year’s index found only a fractional improvement in child well-being from 2002 to 2003. The Foundation for Child Development, which released the index, acknowledges that progress has been “modest and slow,” but also warns of the damage that poverty and obesity have done to the nation’s kids.

“If you took away the huge declines in crime, violence and risky behaviors since the early 1990s, the picture for America’s children would be bleak,” notes Kenneth Land, Ph.D., developer of the index and a sociologist at Duke University. “We need to do a better job investing in our children’s futures.”

The 2005 index found more kids living in poverty today than in 1975, due to a decline in the financial state of American families that has continued since 2000. Median family income has fallen steadily since 1999 and was projected to have dropped even further in 2004.

Meanwhile, children’s overall health has worsened, primarily due to the nation’s serious childhood obesity problem, which has been blamed for a host of resulting illnesses and health conditions. The index’s overall child health score for 2003 was about 17 percent below 1975 levels.