2011 KIDS COUNT DATA BOOK RANKS NH #1 IN THE NATION BUT REVEALS IMPACT OF THE RECESSION ON NEW HAMPSHIRE'S CHILDREN:  

Gains of the 1990s Lost in Recession

According to data released by the Annie E Casey Foundation in its 2011 KIDS COUNT Data Book, New Hampshire again ranks number one (#1) in key indicators of child health and well-being.

The Data Book highlights children in New Hampshire have experienced:

• Improvements in infant mortality rate (5 %); teen birth rate (13 %); teen death rate (22 %); and the percentage of teens not attending school and not high school graduates (67 %).
• Deteriorations in children under 18 years living in poverty (up 83 %); child death rate ( up 7 %); and low birthweight babies (up 3 %);
• The percent of children living in single parent households in New Hampshire remains the same.

"The 83 % increase in New Hampshire's child poverty rate from 2000 to 2009 is especially disturbing," stated Children's Alliance Executive Director Ellen Fineberg. "Given the decreased national and state funding to support families, particularly low- and moderate-income families, the outlook for New Hampshire's children is cause for concern. If New Hampshire wants to maintain its advantage and build its economy, we have to continue to invest in our children."  

"I am proud that New Hampshire has once again been recognized as the best state in the nation to raise a child." Gov. Lynch said. "To stay number one, we must keep working to help parents earn better jobs; keep investing in children's health care; and continue to help ensure more of our young people stay in school."    

According to data in the 22nd annual KIDS COUNT Data Book the economic and social gains for children that occurred across the 1990s stalled, even before the economic downturn began. This year's Data Book reports an eighteen percent increase in the U.S. child poverty rate between 2000 and 2009. This increase means that 2.5 million more American children are living below the federal poverty line ($21,756 for a family of two adults and two children) and effectively wiping out the gains made on this important measure in the late 1990's.

In an ongoing effort to track the impact of the recession, there are two new indicators in this year's data set -- the number of children impacted by foreclosure and households with at least one unemployed parent. In New Hampshire, 4,000 of the state's children, almost 2 % of all children, were impacted by foreclosure since 2007. In 2010, an estimated 20,000 or 7.2 percent of children in this state lived in households where there was at least one parent who was eligible for and or seeking employment, but was unemployed at the time the data were collected.

In addition to the 10 key measures tracked in the Data Book, the KIDS COUNT Data Center

(http://datacenter.kidscount.org) provides easy, online access to the latest child well-being data on hundreds of indicators by state, county, city, and school district. It serves as a comprehensive source of information for policymakers, advocates, members of the media, and others concerned with addressing the needs of children, families, and communities. By visiting the Data Center, users can download the complete Data Book, and create interactive maps and graphs.  For more information or for interactive New Hampshire KIDS COUNT data, visit the Children's Alliance of New Hampshire website.