The federal government's yearly statistical report on the well-being of our Nation's children shows that the adolescent birth rate fell to the lowest level ever recorded. The infant mortality rate also declined to its former, lowest ever, level after having increased in the previous year. The proportion of children exposed to secondhand smoke declined, as did the proportion of high school seniors who reported smoking cigarettes daily in the last 30 days. Compared to the previous year's statistics, the average mathematics score increased for 4th and 8th graders and the average reading score for 4th graders also increased.

At the same time, the birth rate for unmarried women and the proportion of infants with low birthweight increased from the previous year.

These findings are described in America's Children in Brief: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, 2006, the U.S. government's annual monitoring report on the well-being of the Nation's children and youth.

"This year's America's Children report includes a number of favorable developments," said Duane Alexander, M.D., Director of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development of the National Institutes of Health. "A decline in the adolescent birth rate, and drops in exposure to secondhand smoke and smoking among high school seniors are encouraging news."

He noted, also, that the infant mortality rate declined to its previous level after an increase the year before, despite an increase in the rate of low birthweight, a major risk factor for infant mortality.

"Advances in newborn care and technology have served to offset the increase in low birthweight," Dr. Alexander said.

America's Children in Brief was compiled by the Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics and presents a comprehensive look at critical areas of child well-being, including population and family characteristics, health, behavior and social environment, education, and economic security.

Population and Family Characteristics
The birth rate for unmarried women ages 15-44 rose, from 45 per every 1,000 unmarried women in 2003, to 46 per 1,000 in 2004. The birth rate for unmarried women in 2003 also represented an increase, from 44 in 2002 (Table POP7A). These increases follow a trend of modest declines from 1994 to 2002.

"The 2004 rate of 46 births per 1,000 unmarried women ages 15-44 matches the historic high reported a decade earlier, in 1994," the report stated. ?Birth rates for unmarried teenagers have declined steadily since 1994, while rates for unmarried women age 20 and older were higher in 2003 than in 1994.?

Wade F. Horn, Assistant Secretary for Children and Families in the Department of Health and Human Services, commented: "The decline in the adolescent birth rate is a welcome trend. However, given the research evidence indicating the benefits to children associated with being raised by their own married parents, the continued increase in births to unmarried parents and the number of children living in single parent households is a serious concern."