The annual Children’s Defense Fund recently released its annual Kids Count data book.

The statistics are a compelling look at poverty, and other issues, that children face

For instance, in Carver County:

* 965 children (4 percent of the county’s children) lived in poverty in 2005

* 7 children poisoned by lead under age 6 in 2006

* 11 children born to teen mothers in 2006

* 110 children abused and neglected in 2006

* 76 children dropped out of school in 2005

According to the Children’s Defense Fund, the  number of Minnesota children living in poverty has climbed to the highest level of the decade, costing the state an estimated $5.7 billion each year

This year’s Data Book, entitled “From Getting By to Getting Ahead,” found that 152,000 Minnesota children, or 12 percent - lived in poverty in 2006, the latest year data is available.

According to a Children’s Defense Fund press release, the number is a 33 percent increase since 2000. (Poverty is defined as about $21,000 in annual income for a family of four in 2007.

Read more about the report here [2].

Retrieve Carver County (and other Minnesota county) statistics here [3].