[Kids Count Report] Fewer teens having babies, but more are living in poverty

from WTNH

Connecticut is one of the best states in the nation when it comes to the health and well-being of children and teens.

The latest Kids Count report by the Annie E. Casey Foundation charity measures each state's progress on ten statistics, including infant mortality, poverty rates, single-parent families and babies born with low birth weights.

States in the Northeast and upper Midwest scored the best. At the top: New Hampshire, Vermont, Connecticut, Minnesota and Iowa. Southern states did the worst: Mississippi, Louisiana, New Mexico, South Carolina and Tennessee.

Louisiana was ranked 49th, even before Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast last year.

The report says fewer teenagers are having babies or dropping out of high school since the start of the decade, but slightly more live in poverty with parents who don't work year round.

The report also found that measures of health and income for children and teens are no longer improving as much as they did in the 1990s.