Finding Statistics: Sources

This section is a list of books, datasets, web sites and other resources from the government, associations, and non-profits covering national and international statistics/demographics dealing with the status of children, children and health, children and violence, and children and mental health.

United States

Adolescent and School Health from the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, has excellent sources for statistics about this age group. The Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance (YRBS) System has not only the questionnaire and rationale for the 2001 survey, but information and results from the 1999 survey. There is also a report on Federal Activities Addressing Violence in Schools, as well as the School Health Policies and Programs Study, a national survey periodically conducted to assess school health policies and programs at the state, district, school, and classroom levels, which contains a section on violence prevention.

Child Stats offers easy access to federal and state statistics and reports on children and their families, including: population and family characteristics, economic security, health, behavior and social environment, and education. Reports of the Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics include America's Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being, the annual federal monitoring report on the status of the Nation's children, and Nurturing Fatherhood. The Forum fosters coordination and collaboration in the collection and reporting of federal statistics on children and families.

Child Trends is a nonprofit, nonpartisan research organization that studies children, youth, and families through research, data collection, and data analysis.

Children and Infant Health contains fast stats for child and infant health along with links to comprehensive data sources and other related links. This page comes from NCHS Fast Stats A-Z.

Children’s Defense Fund
The mission of the Children's Defense Fund (CDF) is to Leave No Child Behind® and to ensure every child a Healthy Start, a Head Start, a Fair Start, a Safe Start, and a Moral Start in life and successful passage to adulthood with the help of caring families and communities. CDF provides a strong, effective voice for all the children of America who cannot vote, lobby, or speak for themselves. CDF educates the nation about the needs of children and encourages preventive investment before they get sick or into trouble, drop out of school, or suffer family breakdown. CDF produces Children in the States 2001, providing key state and national data in a concise uniform format that will enable readers to see how their own state is doing, look at neighboring states, and look at the national average.

KIDS COUNT, a project of the Annie E. Casey Foundation, is a national and state-by-state effort to track the status of children in the United States. By providing policymakers and citizens with benchmarks of child well-being, KIDS COUNT seeks to enrich local, state, and national discussions concerning ways to secure better futures for all children.

Monitoring the Future is an ongoing study of the behaviors, attitudes, and values of American secondary school students, college students, and young adults. Each year, a total of some 50,000 8th, 10th and 12th grade students are surveyed (12th graders since 1975, and 8th and 10th graders since 1991.) In addition, annual follow-up questionnaires are mailed to a sample of each graduating class for a number of years after their initial participation.

National Institute of Child Health and Human Development funds many studies involving children. For a complete list, go to their research page. Of particular interest is the National Longitudinal Study on Adolescent Health.

National Network for Child Care has both national and state information about child care.

Criminal Justice

Criminal Justice Statistics focuses on statistics coming out of the departments and offices that the National Criminal Justice Reference Service serves. Click on Juvenile Justice for statistical publications coming out of the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.

Indicators of School Crime and Safety 2000 presents data on crime at school from the perspectives of students, teachers, principals, and the general population. The Executive Summary presents highlights from the full report.

Justice Information Center

Juvenile Justice Facts and Figures presents the latest facts and figures on juvenile justice, delinquency prevention, and violence and victimization.

Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention

U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics and the Federal Justice Statistics Program

Mental Health

National Institute of Mental Health is a source for statistics on the mental health of children, violence and children and posttraumatic stress disorder.

General — United States

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is recognized as the lead federal agency for protecting the health and safety of people — at home and abroad, providing credible information to enhance health decisions, and promoting health through strong partnerships. CDC serves as the national focus for developing and applying disease prevention and control, environmental health, and health promotion and education activities designed to improve the health of the people of the United States.

County and City Data Books

Current Federal Social Statistics links to different Federal Agencies: includes health, crime, education and demography.

FedStats is a gateway to statistics from over 100 federal agencies.

National Center for Education Statistics

National Center for Health Statistics is the federal government's principal vital and health statistics agency. NCHS data systems include data on vital events as well as information on health status, lifestyle and exposure to unhealthy influences, the onset and diagnosis of illness and disability, and the use of health care.

National Household Survey on Drug Abuse

State and Metropolitan Area Databook, Washington, D.C.: U.S. Dept. of Commerce, Bureau of the Census: For sale by the Supt. of Docs., U.S. G.P.O., 1980 - present.

Statistical Abstract of the United States

Statistical Record of Children, Schmittroth, Linda. Detroit: Gale Research, 1994. Book format only!

Trends in Indian Health

Youth Indicators 1996 - Trends in the Well-Being of American Youth (National Center for Education Statistics)

General — International

The Childwatch International Research Network is a nonprofit, non-governmental network of institutions involved in research for children. It aims to initiate and coordinate research and information projects on children's living conditions and the implementation on children's rights as expressed in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Use the site’s search button to search for ‘violence’ or ‘statistics’.

Foreign Embassies of Washington, D.C. provides information on each of the embassies in Washington D.C., with links to web-based resources where available, including a country profile.

UNICEF and the latest statistical data on children and women are provided including national level statistics, global comparisons and explanations of key indicators.

World Bank is the world's largest source of development assistance, providing nearly $16 billion in loans annually to its client countries. It uses its financial resources, highly trained staff, and extensive knowledge base to help each developing country onto a path of stable, sustainable, and equitable growth in the fight against poverty. Of particular interest is the Early Child Development initiative Children Affected by War and Violence.

World Health Organization and WHOSIS provide health and health-related statistical information from the WHO Global Programme on Evidence for Health Policy.

World Factbook 2000 Central Intelligence Agency