America’s kids are not all right — we need urgent action to save young lives

Concerns about the mental health and wellbeing of kids are up across the board as the COVID-19 pandemic marches on. With vaccines for children under age 5 not yet available and outbreaks still disrupting schooling for children, teens and college-age young adults, America’s youngest generation remains markedly impacted.

And while the ever-shifting pandemic churns a daily drumbeat of bad news, we need to pay attention to the rhythms underneath its steady refrain. Because America’s kids were not alright even before the COVID-19 pandemic upended their lives.

Americans under age 25 face higher death rates and lower life expectancies than their peers in other affluent nations. Our research report published earlier this month by the Population Reference Bureau, “Dying Young in the United States: What’s Driving High Death Rates Among Americans Under Age 25 and What Can Be Done?,” sounds an alarm bell about child and adolescent death rates in the United States — and it’s one we all need to heed.

The numbers are staggering. In 2019 alone, nearly 60,000 people under age 25 died in the United States, including almost 21,000 infants. Many of these young deaths were preventable, with suicides, homicides and unintentional injuries leading the causes of death among children and adolescents. Pre-term births are one of the primary reasons why the infant mortality rate is up to three times higher in America than in other affluent countries.

The risk of dying early in life is deeply connected to family socioeconomic status. Unfortunately, U.S. children are much more likely to live in poverty than any other age group. Even after taking into account taxes and government benefits such as food assistance and housing vouchers, the U.S. child poverty rate is the second highest out of 35 advanced economies, lower than only Romania.

Racial disparities also play a role in early death. The risk of death before age 25 is 60 percent higher among Black children and adolescents compared with their white peers. Infants born to Black women who have earned at least a bachelor’s degree face a higher infant mortality rate than infants born to white women without a bachelor’s degree, reflecting wide differences in economic resources and exposure to racism-related stress for Black women.

The death of a child or adolescent is a tragedy for parents, families and society. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Many young lives could be saved through policies and interventions addressing social and economic inequities.

Child poverty levels in America are exposing a significant share of our children to a high risk of death. Reducing child poverty through expanded tax credits — alongside enhanced funding for childcare, preschool, housing, nutrition and health care — would save many young lives.

The Expanded Child Tax Credit eased financial pains for many during the pandemic, decreasing child poverty by 30 percent. It had the biggest impact on Black and Latino children. By reducing child poverty, the tax credit also likely saved young lives. Unfortunately, it shrank back to pre-pandemic levels in January 2022.

Addressing racial and ethnic barriers to improve access to quality health care and reproductive health programs would also lower death rates among children and adolescents. Improving treatment for and prevention of mental illness and substance abuse, as well as enacting broad safety measures related to guns and gun ownership, would also save lives.

Policymakers and community leaders need to take a hard look at what can be done to implement reforms that will save young lives. In our incredibly wealthy country, we must assure that our children are not in poverty, have their health care needs met and are free from the dangers of firearm violence. We owe our children and adolescents at least this much.

Robert A. Hummer is the Howard W. Odum professor of Sociology and fellow of the Carolina Population Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and past president of the Population Association of America. He was a lead researcher on a recent project that examined deaths among Americans under age 25 before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.