Louisiana’s Children By the Numbers

Louisiana has averaged 49th for overall child well-being among the states for 25 years.Rick Wheat, President and CEO
Because of Louisiana’s unique, boot-shaped geography, when I travel from Ruston to southeast Louisiana (from the bootstrap of our state to the toe), I leave Louisiana and I pass through Mississippi. Returning home recently, as I crossed the Mississippi River from Natchez back into Louisiana, I noticed the large, red digital numbers on the Louisiana river bank. Those numbers, glowing large in the dark for all who navigate the river, show the river’s depth.

Recently, those numbers sparked an idea: we need a “depth gauge” to describe the condition of Louisiana’s children. This is it: Louisiana’s children by the numbers.

Louisiana’s Children By the Numbers

94,000There are an estimated 94,000 children in Louisiana who have or have had an incarcerated parent.
47The American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry says there should be 47 child and adolescent psychiatrists for every 100,000 children, or 1 for every 2,127 children. Louisiana has only 7.7 child and adolescent psychiatrists per 100,000 children. That's only 1 for every 12,987 children in Louisiana!
48Louisiana is ranked as the 48th worst state for working mothers.
48A report by WalletHub, ranks Louisiana's day care system as the 48th worst in the nation.
40%More than 40 percent of parents missed work regularly over the last three months due to child care issues, while more than 42 percent reported leaving work early regularly during that time frame because of their kids.
1 in 4More than 1 in 4 school-aged children in Louisiana live in poverty.
1 of 123In 2016, 1 out of every 123 babies born in Louisiana died before her or his first birthday.
1,116,185Number of children in Louisiana under 18 years of age.
1,960Number of Louisiana children reported as victims of physical abuse in 2015.
4,639Number of Louisiana children in foster care.
5.5%In 5.5% of Louisiana households, eating patterns of one or more household members were disrupted and food intake reduced because the household lacked money and other resources for food.
8,828Number of Louisiana children reported as victims of neglect in 2013.
12,631Number of children in Louisiana who were victims of child abuse in 2015.
16%Of the 362,616 Louisiana children under age 6, 16% (1 out of 6.25) live in extreme poverty.
17.6%The percentage of Food Insecure households rose from 11.7% in 2007 to 17.6% in 2015.
19%19% of Louisiana’s children live in areas of concentrated poverty.
19%19% of children covered by Medicaid in Louisiana received all required dental care over a recent two-year period, according to a federal report that recommends a government push to improve access to care.
23.1%Nearly 1 out of 4 children in rural communities do not graduate high school.
25%One quarter of Louisiana's students with disabilities were suspended from school in 2011-12; twice the suspension rate for non-disabled students in Louisiana.
28.8%Poverty rate for children under 18 years of age.
29,00012% of Louisiana's teens ages 16 to 19 are not attending school (full- or part-time) and not working (full- or part-time) (2013).
30%Louisiana has experienced more than a 30% increase in child maltreatment over the past 5 years.
30%30% of Louisiana's children age 4 months to 5 years are determined to be at moderate or high risk for developmental or behavioral problems.
32.2%Poverty rate for children under 5 years of age.
37%The percentage of Louisiana's special education students who graduated high school (2013). The national average is 62%.
39%39% of New Orleans children live in poverty, well above national average, report says.
39,918Number of homeless children (2013).
40%Of the 10,119 children who were abused or neglected in 2013, nearly 40% or 3,905 were 3 years old or younger.
42%42% of Louisiana's third graders suffer from untreated tooth decay.
43.8%The percentage of New Orleans children under 18 who live below the poverty level: 43.8%.
46%46% of Louisiana's children live in single-parent households.
47Children in Louisiana are worse off than they would be if they lived in any of 46 other states in the nation.
47Louisiana's rank among states for risk of child homelessness.
8181 countries keep more of their babies alive beyond their babies’ first birthdays than does Louisiana. (See America’s Health Rankings’s latest Annual Report). With Louisiana's infant mortality rate of 8.1 in 2016, 1 out of every 123 babies did not have a first birthday.

Data provided in the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency’s World Fact Book, show Louisiana’s infant mortality rate is worse than that of 81 countries including the likes of Lebanon, Russia, Qatar, Guam, the Faroe Islands, Malta, South Korea, Macau, Sri Lanka, Cuba and Costa Rica. Louisiana’s infant mortality rate lags behind the current rates of the second world, former communist-socialist and Soviet Bloc countries such as Ukraine, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Poland, Slovakia, and Latvia.
4747 states have better infant mortality rates than Louisiana where 1 out of 123 infants dies before her or his first birthday. (See America’s Health Rankings’s latest Annual Report.)
49Louisiana's 28-year average rank for overall child well-being among the states.
65.7%65.7% of Louisiana's children have experienced dental decay.
77%77% of Louisiana's fourth grade public school students score below proficient in reading achievement as measured and defined by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reading test.
80%80% of Louisiana's adolescents held in secure custody are African American. "African American youth are disproportionally represented in every custody and supervision status."
89%89% of Louisiana's African-American 4th grade public school students score below proficient in reading achievement as measured and defined by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reading test.
102According to DCFS, 102 of 172 sex trafficking victims in Louisiana in 2015 were children. 18 of these child victims were under the age of 12."
121,746Number of grandparents raising grandchildren.
59The average response time of Louisiana's DCFS to a referral for child abuse and neglect is 59 hours. This is 20 hours quicker than the national average of 79 hours.
3939 Louisiana children died of abuse or neglect during 2015.
32.3%The number of child victims of abuse and neglect increased by 32.3% between 2011 and 2015.
46,002In 2015, Louisiana reported 46,002 referrals for child abuse and neglect. Of these, 25,364 (55.1%) were referred for investigation.
27.6%27.6 percent of children under age 18 in related families in Louisiana had incomes below the poverty line in 2014. Center for American Progress State of the States Report 2015
188,193Number of infants and toddlers in Louisiana.