CHILDREN'S WELL-BEING IMPROVES, REPORT SAYS

By many social, financial, educational and health measures, the well-
being of America's children has been improving, according to a new
report from the federal government.

While children are still more likely to be living in poverty than
adults, the child poverty rate has been dropping steadily. In 1999, 16
percent of the nation's children lived in families below the poverty
line -- the lowest rate in two decades, and two percentage points less
than in 1998.

The decline was especially sharp in households headed by women and in
black families, according to the report, the fifth annual compilation
of data on children from a dozen federal departments and agencies.

"These findings represent important victories for children and
adolescents," said Dr. Duane Alexander, director of the National
Institute of Child Health and Human Development. "Children are less
likely to live in poverty, more likely to have a parent working
full-time and more likely to have health insurance."

In one measure of the strong economy of the 90's, the percentage of
children living in households with at least one employed parent rose
to 79 percent in 1999, from 77 percent in 1998 and 72 percent in 1994.

On this measure, too, children living with single mothers showed the
most improvement. But children living below the poverty line are
increasingly likely to have at least one parent working full-time,
year round. In 1999, 31 percent of children in poverty had an employed
parent, compared with 21 percent in 1980.

The proportion of children covered by health insurance rose to 86
percent in 1999, the highest since 1995.

There were 70.4 million children under 18 in the United States in
2000, or 26 percent of the population, down from a peak of 36 percent
at the end of the baby boom. That percentage is expected to remain
relatively stable, with children making up 24 percent of the
population in 2020.

The diversity of American children is growing, with the Hispanic
population increasing fastest. In 2000, 16 percent of the nation's
children were Hispanic, up from 9 percent in 1980. Sixty-four percent
were white, 14 percent black, 4 percent Asian/Pacific Islander and 1
percent American Indian.

Over the last two decades, the percentage of school-age children who
speak a language other than English at home and have difficulty
speaking English has nearly doubled, to 5 percent in 1999 from 2.8
percent in 1979.

The percentage of children living with one parent increased to 26
percent in 2000 from 20 percent in 1980, and the proportion of
children living with single fathers doubled to 4 percent in 2000 from
2 percent in 1980.

According to the report, put out by the Federal Interagency Forum on
Children and Family Statistics, adolescents' cigarette use is
declining. Among 12th graders, the proportion of daily smokers was 21
percent in 2000, down from a recent high of 25 percent in 1997; among
8th graders, 7 percent reported smoking daily last year, compared with
10 percent.

Alcohol and illicit drug use did not change substantially, with about
30 percent of 12th graders reporting that they had at least five
drinks in a row in the previous two weeks, and about 25 percent of
them reporting drug use in the previous month.

The percentage of young adults completing high school has increased.
Although the proportion earning a regular diploma has been dropping,
the increase in those obtaining an alternative high school credential
has more than made up the difference.

Other findings included these:

- - Adolescent deaths declined, to an all-time low of 71 deaths per
100,000. The greatest declines were in firearm deaths, which dropped
to 16 deaths per 100,000 adolescents in 1998 from 28 deaths in 1994.

- - Almost 60 percent of 16-year-olds were employed at some point in the
school year, as were about 18 percent of the 14-year-olds.

- - The violent crime victimization rate for 12- to 17-year-olds dropped
to 20 per 1,000 in 1999, from 25 per 1,000 in 1998. Although that
change is not statistically significant, it is part of a longer-term
downward trend, in which the number of assaults, rapes, robberies and
killings of youth has declined by half since 1994.

One troubling finding of the report was the increasing prevalence of
asthma, the most common chronic childhood illness. More than 5 percent
of children under 18 had asthma in 1998, an increase of more than 20
percent in a decade. In 1981, 3 percent of children had asthma, and by
1988, that figure rose to 4 percent.