2002 Kids Count Report

How to Improve South Carolina's Ranking

According to the Annie E. Casey Foundation's 2002 Kids Count national databook, South Carolina ranks 45th in the well-being of children. South Carolina is behind Georgia, Arizona, Tennessee, and West Virginia, but ahead of New Mexico, Arkansas, Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi.

Last year, South Carolina ranked 42nd, the best ranking over the past decade. The state had previously ranked 43rd, 46th, 47th, and 45th, which together average the same 45th ranking as in the 2002 report.

South Carolina's best rankings are for the following:

Families without steady jobs (19th)
Idle teens (24th)
Single-parent families with children (25th)

South Carolina's worst rankings are the following:

Infant mortality (50th)
Child deaths (42nd)
Teen births (42nd)
Low birth-weight (48th)
Teen violent deaths (36th)
Poverty (36th)
High school dropouts (35th)

It is not necessary for us to accept our ranking in the bottom ten states, a position that has raised concern for the entire decade of national Kids Count data reports.

For South Carolina to progress above the bottom states in the overall ranking, we would have to achieve one or more of the following improvements to the national average:

Preventing 175 infant deaths would restore our overall ranking to 42nd. This is fewer than 4 deaths per county;
Preventing 262 deaths of infants, children and teens would improve our ranking to 39th. This is only 6 deaths per county; and
Preventing 262 deaths of infants, children, and teens, plus 1,213 low weight births, and 950 teen pregnancies would improve our ranking to 32nd. Per county, this is only 6 infant, child, and teen deaths, 26 low weight births, and 21 teen pregnancies.

Reducing one child death and one teen death per county is definitely possible. Preventing four infant deaths per county is also feasible. Reducing 26 low weight births or 21 teen pregnancies per county to reach the national average is practical if more people will work on making it happen.

Improving our ranking to the overall national median (25th) would be more difficult. This could be achieved only if the first 5 indicators below were reduced as shown (moving South Carolina to 32nd) and if South Carolina reached the national average rates for school dropouts and child poverty. Reaching the national median 25th ranking would require the following reductions:

42 teen deaths (accident, homicide, suicide)
45 child deaths
175 infant deaths
950 births to teens
1,213 low weight babies
2,242 school dropouts
47,712 families with children in poverty

The 2002 report is discouraging because it signals a return of South Carolina's ranking from 42nd back to 45th place, which was our average ranking during the 1990's.

The major cause of the backward slide in our ranking was the distressing increase in deaths of infants, children, and teens. All three death rates reversed a recent trend of improvement. The most dramatic was the escalation in infant mortality by 139 deaths, increasing the rate to 10.2 per 1,000 from 9.6 in the previous two years and 8.4 three years earlier. The rise in infant deaths was a painful reversal of five decades of steady improvement. The 2002 report uses 1999 infant deaths; however, state data available since collection of the national indicators shows an improvement in the year 2000 back to a rate of 8.7 per 1,000, considerably below the 10.2 per 1,000 rate in 1999 used in the 2002 Kids Count report.

If the deaths of infants, children, and teens had not increased, offsetting recent improvements, South Carolina would have maintained its overall 2001 ranking of 42nd. Prevention of these deaths is practical. And it is a moral obligation for South Carolinians to follow responsible behaviors and use practical preventive practices to protect our children.

To illustrate the challenge statewide, the What Would it Take to Improve South Carolina's Ranking? table presents the numbers of deaths, births to teens, dropouts, etc. that would need to be reduced for the state to improve our ranking to 39th, 25th, 10th, or 1st in the nation.

To illustrate the challenge on a county-by-county basis, If A County Were A State presents the numbers of deaths, births to teens, dropouts, etc. that would need to be reduced for each county to be at the national average. Only if every community across our state supports children more effectively can South Carolina catch up with the nation. To make the ranking question pertinent at the local level, If A County Were A State also shows what rank a county would be among the 50 states for each of the Kids Count indicators.