Nevada ranks among the bottom states for overall child well-being, although it has seen improvements in several categories, according to a new 50-state data report that tracks the topic through economic, educational, and educational lenses. health and family care in the United States.

The state got the 45th place for general welfare, according to the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s Kids Count Data Book. This is a place up from the 2020 ranking, according to the study published on Monday. See it 2021 analysis here.

This year’s report, associated with a study identifying the “pain points of the pandemic” in households with children, determined Nevadans fared worse than the national average – with higher rates of housing instability and food insecurity, less access to health care, and more adults with children experiencing “all-pervading sadness,” according to the report. Experts fear this shows that a decade of progress could be wiped out by the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“It’s really remarkable to see that there has been progress and that COVID has kind of set it back,” said Tara Raines, director of Kids Count Initiatives for the Children’s Advocacy Alliance, a non-profit organization. lucrative Nevada. “It’s unfortunate because when the COVID report came out we were doing worse than the national average across the board and there were a few places we really closed the gap and good progress was made before the pandemic.”

The Annie E. Casey Foundation used state-specific data from federal agencies to determine the well-being of children in four categories: economic, educational, health, and family and community context. Nevada ranked in the bottom 10 states in all areas except health, where it ranked 34th.

Despite this, the data shows significant gains over the past decade. In 2010, 38% of high school students did not graduate on time. In 2019 – the latest year of data available – it was 16%. Another notable improvement over the past decade has been the teenage pregnancy rate: Nevada saw a 51% drop in teenage birth rates from 2010 to 2019.

“For so long, Nevada’s history has been pessimistic, like we’re the worst of it all,” Raines said. “And one of the things I took away from the 2019 data is that we are not the worst. We are not the best, but we are not the worst. We are heading towards the top of that lower quartile.

According to the study, Massachusetts is doing the best in the country for the well-being of children. Mississippi came last.

Executives from the Annie E. Casey Foundation said the report shows how the COVID-19 pandemic has affected American families.

“The COVID-19 pandemic is the most extraordinary crisis to hit families in decades,” Lisa Hamilton, president and CEO of the Annie E. Casey Foundation, said in a statement. “Deliberate political decisions can help them recover, and we are already seeing the beginnings of this. Policymakers should use this moment to undo the damage caused by the pandemic – and to address the long-standing inequalities it has exacerbated. “

Nevadans should always be optimistic about growth between 2010 and 2019, Raines said. She takes the data as a chance for heads of state to question the cause of the negatively affected issues and disparities and to plug the cracks in the foundations of each system.

“How do you create systems that are accessible to everyone in Nevada and not just Nevadans with means or Nevadans with resources or white Nevadans?” How to make them accessible to everyone?

McKenna Ross is a member of the corps with Report for America, a national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms. Contact her at [email protected] To pursue @mckenna_ross_ on Twitter.