State scores high on Save the Children report

Children in Connecticut are safer, more secure and healthier than children in all but four other states in the U.S., according to a new report released by Save the Children.

The international nongovernmental organization released on Wednesday its second annual End of Childhood Index, which examines events and conditions that could rob children around the globe of their childhoods.

“The main takeaway was that there is increasing inequality among children,” said Save the Children CEO and President Carolynn Miles. “It’s a gap that’s widening. I think this issue of inequality and the fact that the poorest kids get further and further behind to me is the biggest call to action.”

Researchers from the organization put together a global index — which examines conditions like child mortality, malnutrition, school attendance, child work rates, adolescent births, early marriage, military conflicts and exposure to violence — comparing 175 countries nationwide. A U.S. complementary report used a similar set of criteria, examining five childhood “enders,” including child mortality, school drop-out rates, food insecurity, child homicide and suicide rates and adolescent birth rates, to compare conditions in all 50 states and Washington, D.C.

Connecticut was one of only seven states whose rural child poverty rate, 7.8 percent, is lower than its urban child poverty rate, 13.1 percent. The state’s rural child poverty rate was the lowest in the country.

Its combined score considering all five “enders” was fifth-lowest in the country, behind only New Jersey, Massachusetts, Vermont and New Hampshire. In last year’s inaugural report, Connecticut ranked sixth-lowest. The data shows the worst-ranking regions of the country are concentrated in poor parts of the rural South and Midwest.

“We really need to treat rural child poverty in the U.S. like it’s an emergency. It’s getting so little attention,” Miles said.

In the global index, the U.S. was ranked 36th, just behind Belarus and ahead of Russia.

According to Save the Children, poverty, conflict and discrimination against girls are putting 1.2 billion children at risk for an early end to childhood. The world is also seeing the highest numbers of displacement ever recorded, with 65 million people forced to leave their homes by the end of 2016.

But there were also positives. Of the countries ranked, 95 had higher scores this year than last, an optimistic trend, according to Tracy Geoghegan, director of publications and branding at Save the Children and an author of the report.

“We tend to think we live in these very difficult and disturbing times, and that’s certainly true, but it’s very heartening to see that even some of the poorest countries — like four in the bottom 10 have higher scores this year than they did last year,” Geoghegan said.