With the reality that a baby is born into poverty every 32 seconds and an average of 1,836 new cases of abuse and neglect are confirmed daily in the U.S., the personal-finance website conducted an in-depth analysis of 2016’s Best and Worst States for Underprivileged Children.
In order to bring awareness toward the unfortunate plight of many children across the U.S., WalletHub’s analysts compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia based on the pervasiveness of certain “disadvantage” indicators. Their data set of 16 key metrics ranged from “infant-mortality rate” to “child food-insecurity rate” to “percentage of maltreated children.”
Ahead of Connecticut in the rankings, and making up the top five, were New Hampshire, New Jersey, Utah, Minnesota and Iowa. The bottom five were Georgia, New Mexico, Louisiana, Mississippi and the District of Columbia. Neighboring states Massachusetts, Rhode Island and New York finished 11th, 29th and 30th respectively.
The overall rankings for Welfare of Children in Connecticut were:
- Fourth – Percent of Children in Households with Below-Poverty Income
- 28th – Percent of Maltreated Children
- 10th – Child Food-Insecurity Rate
- Fifth – Percent of Children Without Health Insurance
- 12th – Infant Mortality Rate
- 21st – Percent of Children in Foster Care
- 21st – Perent of Children in Single-Parent Families
- 16th – Ratio of Children in Renter-Occupied to Owner-Occupied Homes
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