America's Children in Brief: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, 2008

Physical Environment and Safety

Children's physical environments should support their healthy development and be safe from hazardous conditions. Indicators of physical environment and safety include exposure to air pollutants, drinking water contaminants, and lead, as well as measures of housing problems and deaths from injury.

In 2006, 55 percent of children lived in counties in which one or more air pollutants rose above allowable levels established by the Primary National Ambient Air Quality Standards,²³ an improvement from 65 percent in 1999. The allowable level for ozone is the standard exceeded most often. Ozone, as well as particulate matter, can cause respiratory problems and aggravate respiratory diseases, such as asthma, in children.^{24, 25} In 2006, approximately 13 percent of children lived in counties that exceeded the annual allowable level for fine particulate matter less than 2.5 microns in diameter, compared with 24 percent in 1999.

The percentage of children served by community drinking water systems that did not meet all applicable health-based standards declined from 20 percent in 1993 to about 8 percent in 1999. During the period 1999–2006, this percentage has fluctuated between 5 and 12 percent, and was 10 percent in 2006.

In 2003–2004, the median blood lead concentration for children ages 1–5 was 2 µg/dL, a drop from 14 µg/dL in 1976–1980. Percentages of children with specified blood lead levels differ by race, ethnicity, and income (Figure 8). There is no "safe" concentration of lead in blood; however, a blood lead level of 10 micrograms per deciliter (µg/dL) or greater is considered "elevated," and is a level at which children experience, on average, a decrease of 6 points in IQ.²⁶

Figure 8 Percentage of children ages 1–5 with specified blood lead levels by race and Hispanic origin and poverty status, 2001–2004

Inadequate, crowded, or costly housing can pose serious problems to children's physical, psychological, and material well-being. In 2005, 40 percent of U.S. households (both owners and renters) with children had one or more of three housing problems: physically inadequate housing, crowded housing, or a housing-cost burden of more than 30 percent of household income (Figure 9).²⁷ Cost burdens have driven significant increases in the incidence of problems since 2003, when 37 percent of households had one or more of these housing problems, as well as over the long term. Severe cost burdens—housing costs exceeding 50 percent of income—are especially prevalent among the lowest-income renters, affecting 45 percent of very-low-income renters with children in 2005.^{28, 29}

Figure 9 Percentage of households with children ages 0–17 that reported housing problems by type of problem, selected years 1978–2005

In 2005, injury deaths among adolescents ages 15–19 were 50 deaths per 100,000 adolescents, a decrease from 51 deaths per 100,000 in 2004. However, deaths among adolescents due to homicides increased in 2005 for the first time since 1993.³⁰ The homicide rate among Black males is particularly high and increased from 55 deaths per 100,000 adolescents ages 15–19 in 2004 to 60 deaths per 100,000 in 2005. Firearms account for the majority of homicides; 2005 also marked the first increase in the firearm homicide rate since 1993.