SALISBURY — When it comes to the economic well-being of children, North Carolina is slowly pushing its way forward, according to the 2018 Kids Count Data Book, which was released Wednesday.

The report ranks the state 32nd in the nation for children’s economic well-being. Last year, the state ranked 33rd and the year before that, 34th.

The data book says the progress has to do with the nation’s crawl back from the Great Recession.

The report, a yearly look at how children fare in health, finances and education on a national scale, was released Wednesday by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. The foundation uses a total of 16 indicators to take the temperature on children’s well-being and to look at the future. Data is pulled from the most recent U.S. Census or collected over a period of time by child advocacy organizations.

“These indicators represent the best available data to measure the status of child well-being at the state and national levels,” the foundation said.

The most recent data available is from 2016. Local data was collected and provided by N.C. Child, a child advocacy organization.

“All four economic well-being indicators improved during the recovery,” the report said. “Fewer children were living in poverty, more parents were employed and fewer families were spending a disproportionate amount of their income on housing costs.”

In North Carolina, 22 percent of children lived in poverty in 2016, compared to 25 percent in 2010. But that doesn’t mean families aren’t facing an uphill battle, the report said.

Poverty is a struggle that children must face locally, statewide and nationally, and it can have a significant impact on their health, education and future.

According to the report, the number of North Carolina children living in high-poverty areas increased from 12 percent in 2008-12 to 13 percent in 2012-16. In Rowan County, that number is only 5.5 percent — a significant drop from 9.5 percent of local children living in high-poverty areas in 2011-15.

To qualify as a high-poverty area, a neighborhood’s poverty level must be 30 percent or higher.

Rowan County has the lowest rate of children living in high-poverty areas in the region. Forsyth County has the highest rate, at 29 percent. The Salisbury Post used Cabarrus, Davidson, Davie, Forsyth, Iredell, Mecklenburg and Stanly as neighboring counties for comparison.

Outlooks have improved for children living in lower-poverty areas. In 2016, only 26.1 percent of Rowan County children were living in poverty, compared to 26.5 percent in 2015 and 28.7 percent in 2014. However, that number is still higher than the state average of 22 percent.

It is also the highest rate among local counties. Only Forsyth, at 24.5 percent, has a similar level of children in poverty.

During the 2016-17 school year, 68 percent of Rowan County students qualified for free and reduced-price lunch — higher than in any neighboring county. At some local elementary schools, that number goes as high as 90 percent of the student population. Twelve of Rowan County’s 35 public schools are community eligibility schools that provide free breakfast and lunch to all students.

Despite statistics showing a state recovering from the recession, families with children are still struggling. In April, the national unemployment rate hit 3.9 percent — the lowest it’s been in a decade and an improvement from 2017’s 4.5 percent.

“Given this change in unemployment — one of the key factors to improving the financial stability of families — the foundation expects to see ongoing progress in this area,” the report reads.

However, the 2018 unemployment rate for North Carolina is 4.5 percent, and between 2012 and 2016, 8.1 percent of children under age 18 lived in a household with no parent in the labor force. In Rowan County, that number is 9.9 percent — higher than any of its neighbors. Only Forsyth, 9.5 percent, and Davidson, 9.7 percent, came close.

But it’s not just families with unemployed parents who suffer. In 2016, 29 percent of North Carolina children had parents who lacked secure employment — higher than the national average of 28 percent.

North Carolina held steady when it came to family and community indicators, keeping its ranking of 36. In fact, many significant indicators improved. In 2016, only 36 percent of N.C. children lived in single-parent households, compared to 37 percent in 2010. However, that’s still higher than the national average of 35 percent.

According to the data book, only 4 percent of children in N.C. and the U.S. were without health insurance in 2016, an improvement from 5 percent reported last year.

“Far fewer children lacked access to coverage in 2016 than before the recession,” the report reads. “The foundation attributes this precipitous drop in the number of uninsured kids to expanded public health coverage.”

But few gains have been made in education. North Carolina stayed the course this year by ranking 22nd nationally, as it did in 2017.

According to the 2018 report, more young North Carolinians are not in school than ever before. In 2009-11, 56 percent of children ages 3 and 4 were not in school. In 2014-16, that number ticked up to 57 percent. In fact, N.C. 3- and 4-year-olds not in school make up a significant portion of the national count — of the 4.256 million young children not in school, 138,000 live in North Carolina.

North Carolina children showed significant gains in reading. In 2009, 68 percent of fourth-graders were not proficient in reading. By 2017, that number dropped to 61 percent. But while reading scores soared, math scores worsened. In 2008, 64 percent of North Carolina eighth-graders were not proficient in math. By 2017, 65 percent were not proficient.

While younger students struggle, things are looking up for teenagers across the U.S. and North Carolina as graduation rates and other indicators continue to improve. Between 2010 and 2011, 22 percent of state high schoolers were not graduating on time. But by 2015 and 2016, that number dropped to just 14 percent.

In Rowan County, high school students’ four-year cohort graduation rate was an impressive 81.1 percent in 2011 and 2012, higher than the state average of 80.2 percent. Rowan tied with Stanly for graduation rates and stayed in the middle of the pack among other county neighbors.

Teen births, too, have dropped — from 38 percent per 1,000 in 2010 to 22 percent per 1,000 in 2016.

And between 2015 and 2016, only an estimated 4 percent of North Carolina teenagers were abusing drugs or alcohol — lower than the national average of 5 percent.

It’s indicators like these that give those who compile the data book hope for the future.

“Overall, the positive strides in some areas of child well-being, driven by effective policies and continued improvements in the economy, provide encouragement that the nation can advance the substantial work needed to improve the prospects of the next generation,” the report said.

For more information about the Annie E. Casey Foundation or the 2018 Kids Count Data Book, visit www.aecf.org.

Contact reporter Rebecca Rider at 704-797-4264.