State of South Dakota's child: 2003

In South Dakota between 2001 and 2002 there was a 2% increase in births with the number of both white and minority newborns increasing. In recent decades, trends in natality data show an ongoing shift in the ethnic distribution of the state's youngest population with 19% of the 2002 births now representing minorities. Further, though in recent years there has been a slight increase in the number of births, the current yearly birth cohorts represents a 19% decrease from what was observed in 1980. The percent of low birth weight newborns (< 2500 g) increased in 2002 to 7.2%, however, this rate is lower than the 7.8% rate observed nationally, and did not include an increase in very low birth weight (< 1500 g), which dropped to below 1% of all births. The South Dakota infant mortality rate also dropped to 6.5 in 2002, reflecting a decrease for white infants during both the neonatal (< 28 days) and for the post neonatal period of time (29 to 365th day of life). For infants of minority ethnicity, there was a decrease in only post neonatal mortality with their overall rate of infant death remaining over twice that observed for South Dakota's white population. The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 is the special topic of this year's report and includes a discussion of how this significant federal legislation is being implemented in South Dakota's public schools.