Children are at significant risk from unintentional injury-related death and disability. Injury rates vary with a child’s age, gender, race and socioeconomic status. Younger children, males, minorities and poor children suffer disproportionately. Poverty is the primary predictor of injury. Racial disparities in unintentional injury rates appear to have more to do with living in impoverished environments than with ethnicity. Strategies that reduce financial barriers to safety devices, increase education efforts, and improve the safety of the environment are effective at reducing death and injury among these populations at risk.

LOW-INCOME CHILDREN

• Unintentional injuries disproportionately affect poor children and result in more fatalities compared with those children with greater economic resources. Children from low-income families are twice as likely to die in a motor vehicle crash, four times more likely to drown and five times more likely to die in a fire.
  
• Children ages 5 and under are more likely to live in poverty than any other age group. Nearly one out of every four (5.8 million) children ages 5 and under in the United States lives in poverty.
  
• Several factors common to low-income families may increase a child's risk of injury, including single-parent households, lack of education, young maternal age and multiple siblings.
  
• Children from low-income families live in more hazardous environments which may increase their risk of injury, including substandard and overcrowded housing, lack of safe recreational facilities, proximity of housing to busy streets, inadequate day care and/or supervision, increased exposure to physical hazards and limited access to health care.
  
• Low-income families are less likely to use safety devices due to a lack of money, lack of transportation to obtain safety devices and/or a lack of control over housing conditions.
  

MINORITY CHILDREN

• Minority children have higher poverty rates than white children.
  
• Black, Hispanic and Native American children have disproportionate death and injury rates due to higher levels of poverty and lower levels of education, employment and income.
  
• Minority children are more likely to lack health insurance; have more difficulty obtaining appropriate and necessary medical care; have lower incomes creating significant financial barriers to care; are more likely to receive care in hospital emergency rooms; are less likely to receive lifesaving preventive services; and practice fewer safety behaviors.
  

Native American Children

• Among children ages 14 and under, Native American children have the highest unintentional injury death rate in the United States and are two times more likely to die from unintentional injury than white children.
  
• More than 40 percent of Native American children are poor - more than three times the poverty rate of white children. Factors that contribute to higher death and injury among Native American children are more strongly associated with economic conditions than culturally-based differences in parenting.
  

Black Children

• Among children ages 14 and under, black children have the second highest unintentional injury death rate in the United States and are 1.7 times more likely to die from unintentional injury than white children.
  
• More than 45 percent of black children are poor; approximately four times the poverty rate of white children. In addition, only 39 percent of black children live with both parents.
  

Hispanic Children

• Among children ages 1 to 14, Hispanic children have an unintentional injury death rate approximately equal to non-Hispanic children.
  
• More than 40 percent of Hispanic children are poor; having a poverty rate more than three times that of white children.
  

RURAL AND URBAN CHILDREN

• Children living in rural areas are at significantly greater risk from unintentional injury-related death than children living in urban areas. These children are especially at risk from drowning, motor vehicle crashes, unintentional firearm injury, residential fires and agricultural work.
  
• Injuries in rural settings occur in remote, sparsely populated areas which tend to lack organized systems of trauma care, resulting in prolonged response and transport times. A short supply of medical facilities, equipment and personnel to treat injuries in rural areas also contribute to this increased risk.
  
• Minority children living in rural areas are especially at risk from unintentional injury-related death. These children represent a smaller percentage of the rural population and their specific needs are unlikely to be met.
  
• Higher death rates from unintentional injury in southern and mountain states reflect the high number of people living in rural communities.
  
• Higher injury fatality rates in rural communities are due in part to the high number of farm-related injuries. Children account for 20 percent of all injury-related farm fatalities and comprise an even larger portion of nonfatal injuries.
  
• Inner-city children are at greater risk from sustaining severe nonfatal injuries than suburban and rural children. Mortality rates, however, are lower, possibly due to better access to care because hospitals and trauma centers are in closer proximity.
  

MALE CHILDREN

• At virtually all ages, for all causes of injury, males have significantly higher risk of death and injury than females.
  
• Males are at higher risk than females, mostly due to greater exposure to activities that result in injury and patterns of risk taking and rougher play.
  

YOUNG CHILDREN

• Children ages 4 and under are at greater risk from unintentional injury-related death and disability and account for 46 percent of these deaths among children ages 14 and under.
  
• Leading causes of unintentional injury-related death vary throughout childhood and are dependent upon a child’s developmental abilities and exposure to potential hazards. The parent’s perceptions of the child’s abilities and injury risk also are factors. Injuries tend to occur when the demands of a task exceed the abilities of the child to safely complete the task.
  
• Infants have higher rates of unintentional injury-related death and are more likely to die or sustain nonfatal injuries, especially from suffocation and motor vehicle occupant injury, than older children.
  
• Preschoolers are developing motor skills but have poor impulse control and judgment. Their natural curiosity and lack of fear lead them into potentially dangerous situations. These children are more likely to die from drowning, fire and burn injury, motor vehicle occupant injury, pedestrian injury, choking and poisoning.
  

OTHER CHILDREN AT RISK

• Children with emotional or behavioral problems or who are inattentive or easily distracted tend to sustain more unintentional injuries than other children.
  
• Children with developmental disabilities, both physical and psychological, have higher rates of injury.
  

12/99 This information was compiled by the National SAFE KIDS Campaign.