KIDS COUNT 2007
TABLE 1
No one is willing to accept the rank of children in South Carolina as 46th in overall child well-being. In order to transform our concern into focused action, we should note that South Carolina can reach improved rankings by reducing the numbers and rates of problems for each of the indicators as follows:
| Indicator | Current Number & Rate of Children in SC** | Required Reduction in Number and Rate to Improve Ranking | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 39th | 25th | 10th | 1st | ||||||||
| Rank | # | Rate* | # | Rate | # | Rate | # | Rate | # | Rate | |
| Low Birthweight | 47 | 5,761 | 10.2 | 678 | 1.2 | 1243 | 2.2 | 1,920 | 3.4 | 2,372 | 4.2 |
| Infant Mortality | 48 | 525 | 9.3 | 62 | 1.1 | 147 | 2.6 | 1214 | 3.8 | 271 | 4.8 |
| Child Deaths (1-14) | 34 | 194 | 24.5 | 0 | 0 | 24 | 3.1 | 59 | 7.4 | 105 | 13.3 |
| Teen Deaths (15-19) | 39 | 252 | 85.8 | 0 | 0 | 55 | 18.7 | 101 | 34.3 | 134 | 45.7 |
| Birth to Teens (15-19) | 40 | 7,470 | 52.1 | 143 | 1.0 | 1,936 | 13.5 | 3,140 | 21.9 | 4,860 | 33.9 |
| High School Dropouts*** | 44 | 19,607 | 9.3 | 843 | 0.4 | 4,427 | 2.1 | 7,801 | 3.7 | 13,071 | 6.2 |
| Idle Teens (16-19) | 41 | 20,751 | 9.8 | 635 | 0.3 | 4,023 | 1.9 | 6,564 | 3.1 | 10,587 | 5.0 |
| Families with Children Without Secure Employment | 37 | 365,505 | 35.8 | 0 | 0 | 25,524 | 2.5 | 77,593 | 7.6 | 100,054 | 9.8 |
| Children in Poverty | 42 | 229,001 | 22.7 | 14,123 | 1.4 | 52,458 | 5.2 | 92,811 | 9.2 | 134,172 | 13.3 |
| Children in Single-Parent Families | 47 | 355,047 | 37.6 | 33,994 | 3.6 | 67,043 | 7.1 | 97,260 | 10.3 | 189,799 | 20.1 |
**2004 and 2005 data for SC calculated by the Casey Foundation is used in order to compare with 2004 and 2005 national data.
***South Carolina Kids Count can make available an alternative calculation using 8th grade to graduation cohort data from NCES.
46th on Kids Count: Uncompetitive in the National and World Economy
Overall Rank of South Carolina Counties
County-US Ratios for 2007 Kids Count Indicators
High-Lows for 2007 Data Book
What It Would Take to Improve South Carolina's Rankings
What It Would Take for the County to Reach the National Average
Annie E. Casey Foundation South Carolina Profile from 2007 National Databook (PDF)
Annie E. Casey Foundation 2007 Databook