The infant mortality rate, the preterm birth rate and the
adolescent birth rate continued to decline, according to a
report from the Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family
Statistics. The report also showed that average mathematics
scores increased for students in the fourth and eighth grades,
and the violent crime victimization rate among adolescents fell,
as did the number of children living in a home where someone
smoked. “This year’s report contains good news about newborns,”
said Alan E. Guttmacher, MD, director of the Eunice Kennedy
Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human
Development. “Fewer infants were born preterm and fewer died in
the first year of life.” The report, “America’s Children in
Brief: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, 2012,” was
compiled by a work group of 22 federal agencies that produce and
use data on issues related to children and families, according
to the NIH. “The findings in this report, drawn from many
outstanding data systems across the federal spectrum