Alabama's ranking falls in national Kids Count study

from Everything Alabama

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) — A national report on the health and well-being of children and teenagers shows Alabama's overall ranking declined.

The annual Kids Count report, released yesterday by Voices for Alabama's Children, measures each state's progress on ten statistics, including infant mortality, poverty rates, single-parent families, teen death rates and low birth weight babies.

The report ranks Alabama 48th this year — dropping five spot from its best ranking of 43rd last year.

The study said Alabama recorded increases in several categories including number of children living in poverty; the high school drop out rate; and the percentage of children living in poverty. However, the state did see a slight improvement in the teen birth rate.