Volume 12, No.2, April 2001

How Many Children? 2000 Census Data

Reapportionment Census data are out and Missouri's child population stands at 1,427,692. This is an increase of 8.5 percent since 1990. This is slightly less than the 9.3 percent increase for the population overall. Children now account for 25.5 percent of our state's population versus 25.6 percent in 1990.

Not all counties shared in this population increase. In all, 31 counties experienced declines in the numbers of children during the 1990's. Seven counties saw declines of greater than 10 percent. These were Holt, Chariton and Nodaway to the north; Mississippi, Pemiscot and New Madrid in the Bootheel area; and, the City of St. Louis which continues to experience population loss among all ages.

Counties showing the largest gains were Stone, Christian and Taney around the booming Branson area. These counties showed increases of 49.4, 60.4, and 67.8 percent respectively.

Missouri's children have become more racially and ethnically diverse (see Table at left). While white children accounted for 84.4 percent of the population under age 18 in 1990, this declined to 80.5 percent in 2000. For the first time census respondents were allowed to choose more than one race to describe themselves. Multiracial children account for 2.5 percent (35,798) of Missouri's children.

Children of Hispanic origin are the most rapidly increasing group. According to the census, Hispanic is considered an ethnicity which may be of any race. The number of Hispanic children more than doubled during the last decade, rising from 21,272 in 1990 to 42,630 by 2000. In 1990 1.6 percent of Missouri's children were of Hispanic origin. This has risen to 3.0 percent in 2000 according to these new data. This growth was anticipated in an earlier article that discussed the growing number of children in public schools for which English is a second language (Volume 11, No. 1). More than one of every four of these students speak Spanish according to an annual survey conducted by the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.

Overall, there was an increase of 21,358 Hispanic children during the 1990's. This represents a 100 percent increase. Only 5 counties (Worth, Dade, Schuyler, Nodaway and Cooper counties show declines in numbers of Hispanic children. In 1990, only 46 counties had 50 or more Hispanic children. By 2000 this number had jumped to 69 counties. Counties with 50 or more Hispanics in 2000 accounted for 97.6 percent of the total growth among Hispanic children in Missouri.

Historically, children are one of the most difficult groups to count in the census. In 1990, the national percentage of persons missed in the count was 1.6 percent, but the percentage of children missed was 3.2 percent. Children of color were missed more than twice as often as white children (7.0%). Preliminary figures from the 2000 Census show that fewer persons and children were missed than in 1990, but children are still missed more often than persons in the general population. This has important implications for planning given the increasing diversity of our children.

Map 1

Map 2

Table 1