Entries Tagged 'Island Life' ↓

Hawaii ranks number 18 nationally in a new state-by-state study on the well-being of America’s children. The 2009 Kids Count Data Book reveals that since 2000, Hawaii improved on six of the 10 measures affecting child well-being. Yet on four other measures, conditions worsened for Hawaii’s kids.

The 20th annual Data Book also contains the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s essay that takes stock of the country’s progress in keeping track of children’s well-being.

This year’s Data Book is complemented by the expanded Kids Count Data Center that contains hundreds of measures of child well-being covering national, state, county, and city information. To access information for Hawaii go to datacenter.kidscount.org/hi.

Hawaii ranks in the top 10 on four of 10 indicators.

Hawaii ranked among the ten best states in the nation on four of 10 indicators of child well-being. Hawaii ranked 2nd on the percent of children in poverty, 3rd on the percent of teens who are high school dropouts, and 10th on both infant mortality rate and the percent of children in single-parent families.

Teen birth rate increases for the first time since 2000.

Between 2000 and 2005, the teen birth rate in Hawaii decreased from 46 births per 1,000 females ages 15 to 19 to 36 births per 1,000. However, Hawaii’s teen birth rate climbed back to 41 per 1,000 in 2006, a 14 percent increase from 2005. In 2006, there were 1,619 births to teens ages 15 to 19 in Hawaii.

Percent of teens ages 16-19 who are high school dropouts remains low.

Hawaii ranked number 3 nationally in the percentage of 16- to 19-year-olds who were high school dropouts in 2007. The percentage of teens ages 16 to 19 in Hawaii who were high school dropouts decreased from five percent in 2000 to four percent in 2007. Nationally, seven percent of teens ages 16 to 19 were dropouts in 2007.

Percent of children in poverty remains low.

With only 10 percent of children living in poverty in 2007, Hawaii ranked 2nd among the 50 states. Between 2000 and 2007, the percentage of children in Hawaii who were poor decreased from 13 percent to 10 percent. Hawaii’s child poverty rate was well below the national average of 18 percent in 2007.

Lucky you live Hawaii. The life expectancy in the islands is 80 years, according to a new Harvard University study, the highest in the nation. Researchers noted, however, that Hawaii’s advantage is partly statistical, due to its small size and small number of counties. Other “healthy states” include California, Colorado, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Dakota, New Hampshire, Vermont and Washington, all with a combined male and female life expectancy topping 78 years. The study looked at population density, race, income, and murder rates across the country, and found location may have more to do with how long you live than previously thought. For example, while race and income have frequently been cited as a major factor in predicting lifespans, people within the same racial or economic group had widely varying life expectancies in different states or cities. While Hawaii came out on top, Washington D.C. ranked last, with a life expectancy of 72 years.

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Hawaii has been ranked as the second most popular state in which Americans would like to live, and Honolulu came in as the eighth most popular city, according to results from the latest Harris Poll released today. The company surveyed over 3,600 U.S. adults in early August and asked where they would choose to live if they could live in any city or state besides their own. California retained the top spot, but Hawaii leapfrogged over Florida to take second place. North Carolina and Texas rounded out the top five. When the question focused on cities, Honolulu ranked sixth, ahead of Denver and Atlanta but behind Las Vegas, improving from eighth place in last year’s poll. New York City has come in first every year since 1999. Hawaii has ranked in the top ten for nearly a decade; Honolulu only broke into the top ten in 2003.

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Everybody loves a parade… except people stuck in traffic, trapped in the crowds, or struggling to pay the rent. Answering complaints from Waikiki residents and businesses, the Honolulu City Council has set a limit on the number of parades that can be held in the tourist mecca. Waikiki has seen nearly 60 parades and block parties a year, averaging more than one a week, most requiring Kalakaua Avenue to be shut down and requiring extensive traffic and crowd control. The council has passed a bill that will limit parades to 39 per year — 14 annual parades that have been around for 15 years or more receive automatic approval, 15 more parade organizers will be selected each year via lottery, and the mayor will have the discretion to allow as many as ten more. The limit won’t apply to protest marches or other events covered under free speech laws, however. Waikiki residents have complained about the traffic and the noise, and while parades always draw a crowd, they frequently hurt sales for Waikiki businesses. Parade organizers, however, say the events are a draw for tourists, actually drum up business, and add that Waikiki has always been a noisy, festive place. “It’s like living next to the airport and saying it’s too noisy,” long-time parade organizer Nelson Fujio told KHNL. “It’s understood that Kalakaua is a designated parade route.” Fujio, who has served as parade director for the Honolulu Festival and the Pan Pacific Festival, said the inability to guarantee approval may mean some larger, international events will stop coming to Hawaii. The bill now goes to Mayor Mufi Hanneman for consideration.

Hawaii households are among the largest in the nation, more commonly include married couples, and have the second highest percentage of people 65 years of age or older, according to new statistics released today by the U.S. Census Bureau. The data are part of the bureau’s American Community Survey, which assembles updates every year instead of every ten years. According to the survey, Hawaii has the third-largest average household size (2.88 people), behind Utah (3.07) and California (2.6), likely attributed to the high number of multi-generational households prompted by cultural or financial reasons. “Married-Couple Families” account for 53 percent of Hawaii households, the fourth highest in the nation. But islanders tend to wait longer to get hitched — the median age of first marriage for women in Hawaii is 27 and 28.6 for men, ranking the state sixth and seventh nationally. Marriage-minded men in Hawaii, however, have it tougher than women: Hawaii ranks fourth in both the ratio of unmarried men to unmarried women and in the percent of men who have never been married.

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Hawaii’s racial makeup has shifted somewhat in the past five years, with the percentage of black residents growing significantly and with women now outnumbering men, according to new estimates released today by the U.S. Census Bureau. Those reporting black or African-American ancestry were the fastest-growing group in Hawaii, increasing by over 25 percent, although the state ranks 41st in the total number of black or African-American residents, who represent only 3 percent of the population. Meanwhile, the slight lead the men had over women in total population in 2000 has reversed. While men still outnumbered women in many racial categories (by over 23,000 among whites), the women outnumbered the men by over 34,000 among Asians, Hawaii’s largest racial group.

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Hawaii has one of the highest rates of outmigration — residents moving to other states — in the nation, second only to Washington, D.C., according to a recent report from the U.S. Census Bureau. The report found that over 200,000 islanders moved across the Pacific to mostly western states like California, Nevada, and Washington, a rate of more than 65 people for every 1,000 residents, between 1995 and 2000.

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More than $17.8 million in federal funds announced this week will go toward low-income community programs and facilities in Honolulu, including $1.9 million for construction at the Palolo Chinese Home and $1.5 million for a domestic violence and legal hotline facility. The grant was awarded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), in response to the city’s annual application. “This funding is especially important because of the tight fiscal condition our city is facing,” said Managing Director Ben Lee. “The monies will be put to good use servicing those who need our help the most.”

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Households in Hawai`i are more than twice as likely to be multi-generational compared to the average U.S. household, according to a report released today. MapInfo, a New York based software company specializing in “location-based intelligence,” sought out interesting demographic trends related to mothers and babies in anticipation of Mother’s Day. California came in second, with households 50 percent more likely than the average to be multi-generational.

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Echoing similar events held around the world, Honolulu Hale will host a free event Saturday to mark Creativity and Innovation Day. The program includes “seminars from renown speakers who are professionals from all walks of life,” said coordinator Guilherme Albieri. “They will be sharing their view about creativity and innovation and how these can be applied to everyday life.”

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