Child deaths in Hawaii among nation's lowest
The state raises its overall ranking to 21st in the KIDS COUNT report for 2006
Death rates for children and teens in Hawaii have risen in recent years but are still among the lowest in the nation, according to the 2006 KIDS COUNT Data Book released today.
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» The full 2006 KIDS COUNT Data Book is due to be posted online today at www.kidscount.org.
Overall, Hawaii ranks 21st among the 50 states for child well-being, a slight improvement over its 24th-place standing last year. The Annie E. Casey Foundation uses 10 measures of child well-being to produce the annual rankings.
There were 54 deaths per 100,000 teens ages 15 to 19 in Hawaii in 2003, a big jump from 41 in 2000, the report said. Still, only seven other states had lower teen death rates than Hawaii in 2003. Nationally the figures were 66 deaths per 100,000 teens in 2003, compared with 67 three years earlier.
"We need to do more to keep our children and youth safe and out of harm's way," said Marika Ripke, project director for Hawaii Kids Count. "Whether these fatalities are due to child maltreatment, neglect, traffic accidents or health issues, prevention is key to reducing these unnecessary deaths."
The death rate for younger children has also worsened recently in Hawaii, to 18 deaths per 100,000 children ages 1 to 14 in 2003, up from 15 deaths three years earlier. The national rate is 21, down from 22. Hawaii placed ninth best on that measure.
Hawaii's top ranking came for its percentage of high school dropouts, the third lowest in the nation. In Hawaii, 4 percent of teens ages 16 to 19 in 2004 were not enrolled in school and lacked a high school diploma.
The figure, based on U.S. Census data, counts people with GEDs or the equivalent as high school graduates. Nationally the "status dropout rate" is twice as high, at 8 percent.
Hawaii's teens did not fare as well, however, on a measure that suggests some of them are not putting their diplomas to good use. Ten percent of teens ages 16 to 19 in Hawaii were both unemployed and not in school in 2004, compared with 9 percent nationally, based on Census data. That figure is called the "idle teen" rate.
The teen birthrate is falling faster in Hawaii than nationally. There were 37 births per 1,000 females ages 15 to 19 in Hawaii in 2003, down from 46 three years earlier. Nationally the number went to 42 from 48.
The number of low-birthweight babies is headed in the other direction. The number of babies born under 5.5 pounds grew 15 percent between 2000 and 2003, putting Hawaii's rate at 8.6 percent, above the 7.9 percent national average.
This year's KIDS COUNT Data Book focused on how to improve child care provided by friends, family and neighbors outside a child's home. It calls for giving providers useful knowledge and strategies, promoting links with effective child-care centers, collecting better data and making early care a higher priority.
In Hawaii, 27 percent of children under age 6 are in this type of nonparental, non-center-based child care, the same as in the nation as a whole, the report said. The figure compares with a high of 47 percent in South Dakota and a low of 18 percent in Utah.
KIDS COUNT cited Hawaii's Good Beginnings Alliance for helping create Play and Learn Centers in neighborhoods. Staffed by volunteers and early-childhood education specialists, the centers bring caregivers and parents together to learn more about child development.