
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: MONDAY, March 19, 1990                   TAG: 9003192500
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A2   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The New York Times
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                 LENGTH: Medium

STUDY EMPHASIZES RISKS FACING U.S. CHILDREN

Children in the United States are more likely to die before their first birthday, be killed before they reach 25 or live in poverty than children in 11 other industrialized countries, according to a government report released Sunday.

The Census Bureau study compared 57 social, economic and health indicators for children in the United States to those in Australia, Britain, Canada, France, Hungary, Italy, Japan, Norway, the Soviet Union, Sweden and West Germany.

While other studies have shown that economic and military strength of the United States has not guaranteed that its citizens would be at less risk for a host of social, economic and health problems, the new report is the first to compile data for children and to emphasize them.

The report, "Children's Well-Being: An International Comparison," was issued by the House Select Committee on Children, Youth and Families. It used a new Census Bureau compilation that includes international statistics on the well-being of children.

"The dead babies, the murders, the child poverty, are a hemorrhage on human resources and the American spirit," said Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., who is chairman of the select committee.

"We just can't continue to have it go on. It escalates the amount of budget resources that must go in to clean up the mess. And clearly we have the ability to prevent it."

The release of the report comes as the House Education and Labor Committee and the Ways and Means Committee are nearing an agreement on a comprehensive child care bill.

The measure has been bogged down by differences between the two committees over where the money should come from and whether to create a new program or expand an existing one.

"This study will add additional steam to the child care bill and may push Congress to consider an infant mortality bill," Miller said.

by CNB