Population Demographic Characteristics - Age 0-17
Summary Indicator Report Data View Options
Why Is This Important?
The age distribution of a population is related to several health measures, such as the prevalence of chronic disease and the demand for family planning and immunization services. Younger populations, that is, those with a higher percentage of children and young adults, will appear to be healthier when looking at death and hospitalization rates that have not been age-adjusted. For this reason, it is important to use age-adjusted rates when comparing areas that have different age distributions.
Definition
The percentage of the population that is children.
Data Sources
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Health Statistics, CDC WONDER Online Database
(http://wonder.cdc.gov) - New Mexico Population Estimates: University of New Mexico, Geospatial and Population Studies (GPS) Program.
(http://gps.unm.edu/) - U.S. Census Bureau, American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates
(https://data.census.gov) - U.S. Census Bureau, 2010 Census
(http://data.census.gov)
How the Measure is Calculated
Numerator: | Number of children (age 0-17) in the population. |
Denominator: | Total number of persons in the population. |
More Resources
(1) U.S. Department of Commerce news RELEASE WEDNESDAY, MARCH 28, 2001. Retrieved August 20, 2009 from the U.S. Census Bureau website, http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/2001/cb01cs04.html. (2) Effect Of Census 2000 Undercount On Federal Funding To States And Selected Counties, 2002-2012, Price Waterhouse Coopers. Retrieved on August 20, 2009 from http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/cmb/cmbp/reports/final_report/fin_sec5_effect.pdf. (3) The 2000 Census Undercount and What it Means for New Mexico, A Kids Count Special Report, May 2008, New Mexico Voices for Children. Retrieved August 20, 2009 from http://www.nmvoices.org/attachments/nmkc_census_undercounts_5-08.pdf.