Published: July 29, 2009 01:31 pm      

Indiana ranks 31 among states in child well-being

INDIANAPOLIS — A national survey ranks Indiana 31st among the 50 states on child well-being.

The 2009 Kids Count report released Tuesday by the Annie E. Casey Foundation measures states on 10 indicators in areas such as of safety, poverty and education. It shows Indiana has improved in five areas since 2000 and fared worse on five others.

Indiana cut the percentage of teens ages 16-19 who are high school dropouts nearly in half to 7 percent in 2007 from 13 percent in 2000. It was the nation’s 23rd lowest rate.

However, only nine states have higher rates of death for children ages 1-14. An average of 24 of every 100,000 Indiana children ages 1-14 died in 2006. The national average was 19.