America's Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, 2011

• NCJ Number: 235151
• Date Published: July 2011
• Length: 223 pages
• Agencies: OJJDP-Sponsored
• Publication Type: Statistics; Report (Annual/Periodic)

Annotation

This report summarizes data on national indicators of the well-being of America's children as of 2010 and monitors changes in these indicators.

Abstract

Three demographic background measures and 41 selected indicators describe the population of children and depict child well-being in the areas of family and social environment, economic circumstances, health care, physical environment and safety, behavior, education, and health. This year's report has a special feature on adoption. Regarding demography, in 2010 there were 74.2 million children ages 0-17 in the United States, or 24 percent of the population. The racial and ethnic diversity of America's children has increased significantly in the last three decades and will continue to grow. In the area of family and social environment, younger children were more frequently victims of maltreatment than older children. Regarding economic circumstances, in 2009, 21 percent of all children ages 0-17 (15.5 million) lived in poverty, up from the low of 16 percent in 2000 and 2001. Regarding health care, in 2009, 90 percent of children had health insurance coverage at some point during the year, a percentage the same as 2008. Illicit drug use in the past 30 days increased among eighth-grade students, from 8 percent in 2009 to almost 10 percent in 2010. In an average week during the 2010 school year, 9 percent of youth ages 16-19 were neither enrolled in school nor working. Black, non-Hispanic youth and Hispanic youth were more likely to be neither enrolled in school nor working than white, non-Hispanic youth. In 2009, 90 percent of young adults ages 18-24 had completed high school with a diploma or an alternative credential. As of 2008, approximately 2.5 percent of U.S. children had joined their families through adoption, including adoptions from foster care, private domestic adoptions, international adoptions, and stepparent adoptions. Extensive tables and figures