The Hawaiʻi Children’s Action Network has a new website that has comprehensive data on children’s health, education, and economic well-being.
The Hawaiʻi Kids Count Data Dashboard pulls data from multiple sources — such as the state Department of Health and Census Bureau.
Data shown on the website has state average and county-level statistics.
One data point shows residents are having fewer children in Hawaiʻi.
"The fact that Hawaii's population that's growing older partially reflects the fact that this is a really nice place to retire," Nicole Woo, director of research and economic policy at HCAN, said. "But it also reflects the fact that it's really hard for working age families with children to afford to live here."
"That's an indication that we're losing working age families, and we're losing a lot of the folks who are contributing to the economy and can care for a kūpuna," Woo said. "So as that population of younger families goes down, that can be a warning sign that we need to really find ways to keep families here."
The website is meant to spark questions. Why does Kauaʻi County have the highest case of child abuse and neglect? How did the child poverty rate go down across the state?
The dashboard will include ethnic and racial differences in the data in the future.
