Wisconsin children have made important gains in the areas of health and education over the last quarter century, according to the 25th edition of Annie E. Casey Foundation’s annual KIDS COUNT Data Book. But Wisconsin children are considerably worse off economically than they were 25 years ago, and the number living in single-parent families has risen sharply.
Wisconsin currently ranks 13th among the states in overall child well-being, according to the KIDS COUNT Data Book. The table below shows Wisconsin’s ranking in different areas of well-being. A Wisconsin-specific factsheet with more information on individual indicators is available on the KIDS COUNT website.
The 25th anniversary of the KIDS COUNT Data Book offers an opportunity to examine our progress in making sure that every child is offered the opportunity to succeed. The last 25 years have brought significant changes to Wisconsin children, including:
- Steady gains in education and health. In education, more Wisconsin students are graduating on time, math proficiency has risen, and more young children have access to preschool now than before. In the health area, Wisconsin now has fewer child deaths, fewer children without health insurance, and fewer youths abusing drugs. One area of concern is that the number of low‑birthweight babies born in Wisconsin has risen.
- Economic progress still lags, even after the end of the recession. More Wisconsin children live in poverty, live in households with high housing costs, or live in a household in which no parent works full time.
- Mixed trends for Family and Community indicators. Teen births in Wisconsin have dropped to historic lows, and the number of children living in families where the household head lacks a high school diploma has also decreased. However, there has been an increase in the percent of Wisconsin children living in single-parent families, and more children live in high-poverty areas.
The KIDS COUNT Data Book, published annually by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, includes data on child well-being in every state and the nation. All of the data used in the Data Book, along with hundreds of additional measures, are available online at the KIDS COUNT Data Center.
Tamarine Cornelius