2007 KIDS COUNT Data Book Online >
Summary and Findings
Child Well-Being in Puerto Rico
For the first time, the KIDS COUNT Data Book includes data on child well-being for children living on the island of Puerto Rico. We include Puerto Rico in our analysis this year because it is the first year that all 10 key indicators are available for this territory. The data for Puerto Rico come from the same data sources as the information we include for the 50 states and the District of Columbia. As data are only available for the most recent year for all 10 indicators, we are unable to include information on trends in this year’s Data Book. In addition, we do not include Puerto Rico in our state rankings, as comparisons with states are not meaningful on many indicators. Currently, data for these indicators are not available for the U.S. Virgin Islands, although we hope to have information from the Virgin Islands Community Survey for inclusion in the future.
- In 2005, there were an estimated 1 million children on the island of Puerto Rico. This represents a larger child population than that of about half the states in the United States.
- On 9 of the 10 key measures of child well-being, these children face higher levels of risk overall than the U.S. average.
- The child poverty rate for Puerto Rico (55 percent) is nearly three times the level in the United States as a whole (19 percent).
- Babies born in Puerto Rico are far more likely to be of low birthweight (11.5 percent) and born to teen mothers (62 births per 1,000 females ages 15 to 19) than in the U.S. overall (8.1 percent and 41 per 1,000, respectively).
- However, the rate of deaths among children ages 1 to 14 in Puerto Rico (17 per 100,000) is slightly lower than the national rate (20 per 100,000).
