STRICT EMBARGO: CONTACTS: Sharon Pickett
NOT FOR RELEASE UNTIL Nadia Steinzor
MONDAY, JUNE 12, 1995 202-332-2200
CHILDREN'S ENVIRONMENTAL INDEX RANKS BEST AND WORST U.S. CITIES
Nationwide Study Reveals Correlation Between
Population Pressures and Problems Afflicting Children
Washington, D.C. -- Growing up in Madison, Wisconsin, is a lot
healthier than it is in San Bernardino, California, according to a new
report released by Zero Population Growth (ZPG). The Children's
Environmental Index rates 207 U.S. cities on a broad range of
population-related social, economic, and environmental pressures that
affect the well-being of children.
Each city was scored on 14 indicators and then ranked in relation
to all other cities. ZPG researchers gathered data on education, crime,
pollution, percent of children living in poverty, and other
environmental indicators. "Environment" is used in its broadest sense
to include both the social and physical conditions that influence a
child's development.
Top ten cities include (1) Madison, WI (2) Burlington, VT (3)
Stamford, CT (4) Fargo, ND (5) Lincoln, NE (6) Overland Park, KS (7)
Sioux Falls, SD (8) Livonia, MI (9) Green Bay, WI and (10) Virginia
Beach, VA. Cities scoring at the bottom of the Index include (198) St.
Louis, MO (199) Riverside, CA (200) Atlanta, GA (201) Pomona, CA (202)
Los Angeles, CA (203) Inglewood, CA (204) El Monte, CA (205) Long Beach,
CA (206) Newark, NJ and (207) San Bernardino, CA. A complete list of
all city scores with related articles and graphs is available in the
full report.
The Index findings show that, in general, our nation's largest
cities provide the worst environment for children. The average
population of the 20 lowest scoring cities was 438,000 people while the
20 highest scoring cities had average populations of only 146,000.
Lower scores in larger cities generally reflect higher rates of poverty,
unemployment, crime, teen pregnancy, school drop-outs, and pollution --
conditions that obviously create a negative environment for children.
"But simply reducing the population of our cities is not the
answer," says ZPG Board President Dianne Dillon-Ridgley. "Moving people
into the suburbs and putting more commuters on the highways will only
make environmental problems worse. We need to find comprehensive, long-
term solutions to slow population growth while working to address
problems that face people today."
Index data reveals the interrelated nature of many urban problems.
For example, the ZPG study revealed a strong correlation between poverty
and other social problems. Cities with a high percentage of children
living in poverty were much more likely to have high unemployment rates,
crime rates, and drop-out rates. An extremely high correlation was
found between child poverty and births to teens.
On average, 22 percent of children in the cities ZPG studied
currently live below the poverty line. The Index found that 33 cities
have more than one-third of their children living in poverty and 10
cities have more than 40 percent. Eight of the 10 cities with more than
40 percent of children in poverty also have more than 20 percent of all
births born to teenage girls.
"High teen pregnancy rates are related to lack of educational
attainment and opportunities," says Dillon-Ridgley. "This, in turn,
leads to poor job skills and unemployment and more child poverty. The
Index challenges citizens to examine factors that affect this vicious
cycle of poverty and population growth and re-evaluate community
priorities. In the long run, communities that can stabilize population
and ensure sustainable development will enjoy a higher quality of life
than communities that do not."
The U.S. population is currently about 260 million and growing by
more than 3 million people a year, a rate faster than any other
industrialized nation. The U.S. is the third most populated nation in
the world, after China and India, and set to double to 500 million by
2050. This exploding population exacerbates many of the problems that
already plague our cities and is intensified by the fact that Americans
produce more waste and consume more natural resources than any other
nation.
While population pressures affect everyone, they take their
greatest toll on children. Children are more susceptible to pollution
because they spend more time outdoors, breathe more air per pound of
body weight, and have fewer detoxifying enzymes than adults. They are
more vulnerable to malnutrition and disease and less able to defend
themselves against violence and neglect.
The Children's Environmental Index pinpoints areas of failure and
success and gives people solid data they can use to facilitate changes
in their cities. The Index is not intended to suggest that people
should relocate from one city to another. Rather, the Index should be
viewed as a vehicle to examine current conditions and plan improvements
accordingly.
The Children's Environmental Index was produced by Zero Population
Growth, the nation's largest grassroots organization concerned with the
impacts of population growth. ZPG supports a comprehensive approach to
reducing population pressures including access to safe and affordable
contraceptives, reproductive choice, school-based sexuality education
and health services, international support for basic education and
voluntary family planning programs, green technologies and recycling
programs, and the adoption of a national population policy. In
combination with responsible personal choices such as reducing
consumption and having smaller families, these actions can help to
ensure a quality environment for present and future generations.
Copies of the Children's Environmental Index are $7.50 each plus
$1.50 postage and handling ($9.00 total). Checks should be made payable
to ZPG and sent to ZPG Publications, 1400 16th Street NW, Washington, DC
20036 or VISA/Mastercard orders can be placed by calling 202-332-2200.
ZPG speakers are available upon request to discuss the Index and
population issues.
Copyright (c) 1994 Zero Population Growth. Permission is granted to
make and distribute verbatim electronic copies of this document for
nonprofit educational purposes provided the copyright notice and this
permission notice are preserved on all copies. Permission is also
granted to copy and distribute translations of this document into
another language, under the above conditions, except that this permission
notice must be stated in a translation approved by Zero Population Growth.
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