Georgia KIDS COUNT Press Release June 3, 2004

Child Well-Being in Georgia at a Glance
2004 KIDS COUNT Georgia Fact Sheet

Georgia ranks 40th among all states in a recently released state-by-state study that reports on the well-being of America's children, up from 47th ten years ago. The 2004 KIDS COUNT Data Book shows that Georgia improved between 1996 and 2001 on eight out of 10 measures that reflect child well-being but worsened in the percentage of low birth weight babies and families with children headed by single parents. This year's report features a focus on the conditions of young adults, ages 18 to 24, at risk of unsuccessful transition from childhood to adulthood.

Fifteen percent of Georgia's young adults are not enrolled in higher education and do not work.
According to 2002 data, 118,000 Georgians, ages 18 to 24, were not working, were not in school, and did not have a degree beyond high school, consistent with the more than 3.8 million, or 15 percent, of young adults nationwide.

Sixteen percent of Georgia's young adults live in poverty.
Sixteen percent of Georgia youth, ages 18 to 24, lived in poverty (2002 data), a rate that is slightly lower than the national average of 18 percent. Poverty is associated with poor educational achievement, early child bearing, and increased risk of delinquency.

Georgia ranks above the national average in high school dropouts but has improved.
Georgia is 29th in the nation in the percent of teens, ages 16 to 19, who drop out of high school-an improvement from its national ranking of 35th, according to 2000 data. Despite the decrease in this trend, Georgia is continuing to close the gap in comparison to the national average. Ten percent of teens dropped out in Georgia in 2001, as compared to the national average of 9 percent.

Rates of idle youth in Georgia remain constant.
While the national average is declining, the five-year trend in Georgia has remained constant with 10 percent of teens, ages 16 to 19, not attending school and not working. Nationally, Georgia ranks 32nd on this measure, up from 35th last year.

Teen births in Georgia are still among the worst in the nation.
Georgia ranks 45th in the nation in teen births, down from 44th nationally last year. In 2001, the Georgia teen birth rate for girls, ages 15 to 17, was 33 births per 1,000, compared to the national average of 25 births per 1,000. This trend has improved from 1996 when the teen birth rate was 44 births per 1,000 females. Children born to teen mothers are more likely to be born prematurely, to have a lower birth weight or die as an infant, to experience poorer academic and behavioral outcomes, and to have teen births themselves.

Data availability

The 2004 KIDS COUNT Data Book is available online at http://www.aecf.org/kidscount/databook/. There is an interactive database for printing state-by-state profiles and for creating reports using graphs, rankings, maps and raw data.

Family Connection Partnership is pleased to provide hard copies of the 2004 KIDS COUNT Data Book and supporting materials. For your free copy, please contact Taifa Butler at 404-527-7394 or at communications@gafcp.org.

KIDS COUNT is a national and state-by-state effort funded by the Annie E. Casey Foundation to track the status of children in the U.S. It provides a broad annual summary of state indicators of child and family well-being and monitors changes in these indicators over time. KIDS COUNT seeks to enrich local, state and national discussions concerning ways to secure better futures for all children.

Family Connection Partnership (FCP) publishes Georgia KIDS COUNT information and provides interactive data at www.gafcp.org/kidscount. Georgia KIDS COUNT provides policymakers and citizens with current data needed to make informed decisions regarding priorities, services, and resources impacting Georgia's children, youth, families and communities. Georgia KIDS COUNT is funded through a grant from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, a private charitable organization dedicated to helping build better futures for disadvantaged children in the U.S.

Please forward this bulletin to any interested parties.

Public Affairs and Policy Team
Family Connection Partnership
www.georgiafamilyconnection.org