KIDSCOUNT Map: Ozarks not looking good by these measures

I like living in Southern Missouri, but I don’t like everything about it. In particular, children have a noticeably difficult time with basic needs.

This map allows you to see how each Missouri county’s children rank according to:

• % on free and reduced school lunches
• births to mothers without high school diplomas
• infant mortality
• child death rates
• child abuse and neglect rates
• out-of-home placement
• high school dropout rates
• births to teen mothers
• teen violence

This map is prepared by a non-partisan, non-profit advocacy group, Citizens for Missouri’s Children, with the financial support of the Annie E. Casey Foundation, compiles and maps statistics which tell us something about the children of Missouri.

The counties which look worst by these measures are scattered around the state, with St. Louis City being at the bottom. But the counties of the Ozarks and, especially, the Bootheel, don’t look well.