Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Winter Child Indicator Newsletter Features Report on Healthy People 2010, the New Supplemental Poverty Measure, and More


Child Trends
February 22, 2012

Winter Child Indicator Newsletter Features Report on Healthy People 2010, the New Supplemental Poverty Measure, and More

Child Trends publishes The Child Indicator three times a year to communicate major developments and new resources within the child and youth indicators field to interested advocates, researchers, and data developers.  The Winter 2012 issue provides a roundup of recent updates to key national indicator reports, and features several new resources.

Since 1979, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has undertaken a rigorous indicator project, which sets 10-year targets related to a vision of improved health for all Americans. The National Center for Health Statistics has released the Healthy People 2010: Final Review, and while not entirely encouraging, there are some areas showing improvement. Of the 733 objectives that have been tracked over the past decade, 23 percent (170) met their targets, while 48 percent (349) moved in a favorable direction. Importantly, the final report shows an increase in life expectancy over the past 10 years.  Healthy People 2020 will include significantly more indicators of child and youth well-being.

In addition, the Winter Child Indicator features information on the Supplemental Poverty Measure, a new measure developed to take into account government policies and rising overall incomes that the standard poverty measure fails to acknowledge. For children, the new measure primarily reflects how public assistance programs have kept some children and families from falling into poverty. The Supplemental Poverty Measure puts the rate of child poverty at 18.2 percent, rather than the official rate of 22.5 percent.

The latest volume of The Child Indicator also highlights three new reports on vital statistics, 2011 data on reading and math scores among fourth-and eighth-grade students, as well as the latest data from the National Survey of Children with Special Health Care Needs.

Child Trends produces and distributes The Child Indicator with support from the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

Past issues are available here.
                                                                                                                           

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