ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - Only four states rank lower than New Mexico in this year's Kids Count ranking of child well-being.
For the second year in a row, New Mexico is No. 46 in the report released annually by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. The report ranks states based on ten indicators of child welfare, including child poverty rates, infant mortality and teen births.
This year's report also includes new data reflecting the effects of the recession on children.
Since 2007, the report says, 17,000 New Mexico children have been affected by foreclosure, and the unemployment rate for parents has almost tripled. This effectively erases the economic gains made since the late 1990s.
According to the report, only Arkansas, Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi rank lower than New Mexico for child well-being.
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