JACKSON, Miss. – Mississippi has once again been ranked last in overall child well-being.
According to KIDS COUNT Data Book from the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Mississippi ranked 50th for the second year in a row.
In all four categories examined in the study, Mississippi finished in the bottom three, when compared to the 49 other states. The categories include: Economic well-being (49th), Education (47th), Health (49th) and Family & Community (50th).
Linda Southward, Director of Mississippi Kids Count, “Basically, what we want to stress is that in relative to other states while Mississippi is improving on some categories, we are not improving at the rate that will get Mississippi to a higher ranking.”
There were some positives however, Mississippi was one of just three states to experience a percent decrease in the percent of children in poverty. The magnolia state has also seen teen birth rates fall by 41 percent since 2008.
“One of the areas that made the most improvement is child and teen death per one-hundred-thousand. That went from 43 in 2008 to 39 in 2014”, said Southward.
