There is a lot of room for improvement when it comes to the health and well-being of Utah kids, according to the Voices for Utah Children’s “Utah KIDS COUNT” study, released Monday.
The study, which has been released annually for the past 17 years, provides comprehensive data on a wide variety of child well-being indicators, including analysis of items ranging from prenatal care to high school graduation.
The indicators focus on demographics, health, education and economic security. According to the study, almost 50,000 more Utah children lived in poverty in 2010 than did in 2007.
Controlling poverty is important because a child living in those conditions typically encounters a host of other obstacles, Haven said.
Poverty affects a child’s ability to learn, Haven said, and there is a large “achievement gap” between low-income children and middle- to high-income children when entering grade school. Standard Examiner
