On kidsdata.org, demographic information includes the following:

Birth Rate per 1,000 Women Ages 15-44 (General Fertility Rate)
Births, by Race/Ethnicity (total number and percentage of births)

Child Population (available for all counties):

by Age and Gender
by Race/Ethnicity (data are not comparable before and after 2000, due to racial classification changes)
by City, School District, and County (65,000 Residents or More), as single-year estimates
by City, School District, and County (20,000 Residents or More), as 3-year estimates
by City, School District, and County (10,000 Residents or More), as 5-year estimates
by Legislative District, as 5-year estimates
by Rural and Urban Areas (State Only)

Public School Enrollment, Overall and by Race/Ethnicity
Total Population

Child population trends help project potential needs for education, child care, health care, and other services for children (1). Nationwide, the child population is projected to grow from its current 75 million to about 78 million in 2015 (1). Trends also show that by 2050, Latinos/Hispanics will have replaced White, non-Hispanics as the largest racial/ethnic group of children in the U.S. (1). This is already true in California where, as of 2010, Latino/Hispanic children accounted for 51.6% of children under 18 (2). Understanding the demographic composition of the child population provides important insight into the needs of children today and can guide investments that will best support American youth in the future.

For more information about demographics, see kidsdata.org’s Research & Links section.

Sources for this narrative:

1. Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics. (2011). America’s children: Key national indicators of well-being, 2011. Retrieved from: http://www.childstats.gov/americaschildren/demo.asp
2. State of California, Department of Finance. (2010). Estimates of race/ethnic population with age and gender detail, 2000-2010. As cited on www.kidsdata.org, a project of the Lucile Packard Foundation for Children's Health. Retrieved from: http://www.kidsdata.org/data/topic/table/child-population-race.aspx

From 1995 to 2010, the birth rate per 1,000 women ages 15-44 declined in California and most counties. While the total number of children in California increased between 1995 and 2004, the numbers have been declining since then. Children ages 0-17 comprise about a quarter of the state's population; this has decreased from 28.4% in 1995. More than one-fourth (26%) of California's 9.3 million children lived in Los Angeles County in 2011. Orange and San Diego counties had the next largest child populations.

Latino children make up the largest racial/ethnic group among the state’s child population. In 2010, 51.6% of California children were Latino/Hispanic (up from 44.3% in 2000), and 27.3% were white (down from 35.0% in 2000). About 11% of California children were Asian American, 5.7% were African American/Black, 3.8% were Multiracial, 0.4% were American Indian, and 0.4% were Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander in 2010.

Since 1994, the racial/ethnic makeup of the public school population in California has changed. Consistent with child population trends at the state level, African American/Black, American Indian/Alaska Native, and white student representation has been declining, while Hispanic/Latino student representation has been steadily increasing. Between 1994 and 2012, Filipino, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, and Asian/Asian American student representation remained relatively steady.

• ChildStats.gov, Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics
• Demographics, Child Trends Databank
• Migration Policy Institute Data Hub
• National Adolescent and Young Adult Health Information Center
• Office of Minority Health and Health Disparities, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• Public Policy Institute of California
• Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Knowledge Path, Maternal and Child Health Library at Georgetown University
• Spanish-Language Health Resources Knowledge Path, Maternal and Child Health Library at Georgetown University
• U.S. Census Bureau: Population and Household Topics

• A Portrait of California, 2011, American Human Development Project of the Social Science Research Council, Burd-Sharps & Lewis
• America’s Future: Latino Child Well-Being in Numbers and Trends, 2010, National Council of La Raza & Population Reference Bureau
• American Indian and Alaskan Native Health Assessment in California, 10/2010, California Program on Access to Care at UC Berkeley School of Public Health & the California Endowment, Garrow, Korenbrot, Crouch & LeBeau (California Rural Indian Health Board)
• California Speaks: Language Diversity and English Proficiency by Legislative District, 05/2009, Asian & Pacific Islander American Health Forum (APIAHF)
• California's Diminishing Resource: Children, 01/2013, Lucile Packard Foundation for Children's Health & USC, Myers, D.
• Demographic and Socioeconomic Profiles of Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders, 2011, Asian and Pacific Islander American Health Forum
• Ethnic Health Assessment for African Americans in California, 08/2010, California Program on Access to Care at UC Berkeley School of Public Health & California Endowment, Snowden & Freeman
• Ethnic Health Assessment for Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders in California, 2011, Asian and Pacific Islander American Health Forum, University of California Asian American and Pacific Islander Policy Multicampus Research Program, Tseng et al.
• Ethnic Health Assessment for Latinos in California, 08/2010, California Program on Access to Care at UC Berkeley School of Public Health & California Endowment, Rodriguez & Hernández-Santana
• Immigrant Children, 04/2011, The Future of Children
• Racial and Ethnic Disparities in the Health and Health Care of Children, 04/2010, Pediatrics, Flores
• The Changing Child Population of the United States: Analysis of Data from the 2010 Census, 2011, The Annie E. Casey Foundation, Population Reference Bureau, O'Hare, W.
• The Health and Well-Being of Children in Rural Areas: A Portrait of the Nation 2007, 09/2011, U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration, Maternal and Child Health Bureau
• Who Are America’s Poor Children? Examining Health Disparities by Race and Ethnicity, 07/2011, National Center for Children in Poverty

• Generational Future of Los Angeles: Projections to 2030 and Comparisons to Recent Decades, 03/2013, University of Southern California, Sol Price School of Public Policy, Myers & Pitkin
• L.A. Speaks: Language Diversity and English Proficiency by Los Angeles County Service Planning Area, 2008, Asian Pacific American Legal Center
• Our Families: Attributes of Bay Area Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Parents and Their Children, 2007, LGBT Family Collaborative, Wilson
• San Francisco Bay Area Asian American, Native Hawaiian and Pacific Islander Youth Health Status Report, 12/2007, Asian and Pacific Islander Bay Area Health Council, Asian and Pacific Islander Health Forum

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