Kids Count 2003: What Will It Take to Improve South Carolina's Rankings?
No one is willing to accept the rank of children in South Carolina as 42nd 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:
| Indicators | Current number & rate of children in SC** | Required reduction in number and rate to improve ranking | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 39th | 25th | 10th | 1st | ||||||||
| Rank | Number | Rate* | Number | Rate | Number | Rate | Number | Rate | Number | Rate | |
| Low Birthweight | 47 | 5,419 | 9.7 | 782 | 1.4 | 1,229 | 2.2 | 1,955 | 3.5 | 2,291 | 4.1 |
| Infant Mortality | 45 | 488 | 8.7 | 28 | 0.5 | 107 | 1.9 | 168 | 2.8 | 230 | 4.1 |
| Child Deaths (1-14) | 33 | 200 | 25 | NA | NA | 24 | 3 | 48 | 6 | 96 | 12 |
| Violent Teen Deaths (15-19) | 39 | 195 | 66 | NA | NA | 32 | 11 | 77 | 26 | 121 | 41 |
| Births to Teens (15-17) | 41 | 2,921 | 35 | 83 | 1 | 1,001 | 12 | 1,335 | 16 | 2,086 | 25 |
| High School Dropouts | 35 | 27,000 | 11 | NA | NA | 4,909 | 2 | 9,818 | 4 | 17,182 | 7 |
| Idle Teens | 35 | 24,000 | 10 | NA | NA | 4,800 | 2 | 9,600 | 4 | 14,4000 | 6 |
| Families with children without steady jobs | 36 | 241,000 | 27 | NA | NA | 26,778 | 3 | 71,407 | 8 | 98,185 | 11 |
| Child Poverty | 36 | 189,700 | 19 | NA | NA | 39,937 | 4 | 69,889 | 7 | 109,826 | 11 |
| Single-parent families with children | 32 | 137,000 | 29 | NA | NA | 4,724 | 1 | 18,897 | 4 | 56,690 | 12 |
*Child and teen deaths are rates per 100,000. Teen births and infant mortality are rates per 1,000. All others are percentages.
**2000 data for SC calculated by Casey Foundation is used in order to compare with 2000 national data