Millions of kids in the United States are being denied the opportunity to have the childhoods they deserve and grow to their full potential, a new report from the international group Save the Children has revealed.
The organization released its inaugural End of Childhood Report Thursday, ranking the best and worst places in the world -- along with a companion breakdown by U.S. state -- for kids to have safe, secure and healthy childhoods. Rankings are determined by "childhood enders" including malnutrition, teenage pregnancy, high school dropouts rates, infant mortality and violence.
New Jersey came in third in the U.S. ranking, boosted by low high school drop out rates (just 10.3 percent didn't graduate on time in the 2014-15 period studied, second only to Iowa's 9.2 percent), while Connecticut came in sixth, a ranking powered by its comparatively low number of adolescent births (10.1 per 1,000 births to moms ages 15 to 19 in 2015, second only to Massachusetts (9.4 per 1,000).
New York fell just outside the top 10 (11). The Big Apple was ranked fourth in the country for limiting violence, assessed by child homicide and suicide rates, but its ranking plunged due to a No. 38 ranking in high school graduation rates.
For full details on the study and methodology, click here. Here's a breakdown of the top 10 best and worst states, according to Save the Children:
10 BEST STATES
1. New Hampshire
2. Massachusetts
3. New Jersey
4. Vermont
5. Iowa
6. Connecticut
7. Minnesota
8. Virginia
9. Wisconsin
10. Rhode Island
10 WORST STATES
1. Louisiana
2. Mississippi
3. New Mexico
4. Oklahoma
5. Georgia
6. Alaska
7. Arkansas
8. Alabama
9. Nevada
10. Arizona
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