Study: Md. Child Poverty Among Lowest In U.S.; Death Rates Higher

Maryland ranks 23rd overall children's well-being

Maryland has one of the lowest rates of childhood poverty in the nation, but is in the middle of the pack in overall children's well-being, according to a report released Wednesday by the Baltimore-basedAnnie E. Casey Foundation.

The state is 23rd overall in the 2011 Kids Count Data Book, an annual assessment of child welfare organized with the help of local child advocacy groups. Maryland ranks two spots better than last year's report, but continues to have relatively high child and infant death rankings.

Since 2000, the average nationwide child poverty rate increased 18 percent, according to the report. The recent economic recession, it concludes, "effectively wiped out all of the gains we made in cutting child poverty in the late 1990s."

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