One in Five Teenagers Is Obese

The percentage of teenagers who are obese has more than quadrupled in the past 40 years, according to the National Center for Health Statistics. Among 12-to-19-year-olds, just 5.0 percent were obese in the 1976–1980 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Forty years later in 2017–2018, a much larger 21.2 percent of teenagers were obese. Obesity is defined as a sex-specific BMI (body mass index) at or above the 95th percentile for the age group in the CDC's 2000 Growth Charts.

Percent of 12-to-19-year-olds who are obese

2017–2018: 21.2%

2007–2008: 18.1%

1999–2000: 14.8%

1976–1980:   5.0%

Teen boys are more likely than teen girls to be obese—22.5 percent of boys and 19.9 percent of girls were obese in 2017–2018. 

Obesity is a growing problem for younger children as well. In the 6-to-11 age group, 20.3 percent were obese in 2017–18 (up from 6.5 percent in 1976–1980). Among children aged 2-to-5, a substantial 13.4 percent were obese in 2017–2018 (up from 5.0 percent in 1976–1980). 

Source: National Center for Health Statistics, Prevalence of Overweight, Obesity, and Severe Obesity among Children and Adolescents Aged 2–19 Years: United States, 1963–1965 through 2017–2018

Stability in Children's Living Arrangements

The living arrangements of the nation's children have changed little over the past 12 years, according to a Census Bureau report comparing children's living arrangements in 2019 with 2007.

Distribution of children under age 18 by living arrangement, 2007 and 2019

	2019	2007	pp change
Total children	100.0%	100.0%	–
Living with two parents	70.1	70.7	-0.6
Biological mother and father	62.5	63.3	-0.8
Married parents	58.9	60.8	-1.9
At least one step/adoptive parent	7.6	7.4	0.2
Living with one parent	25.8	25.8	0.0
Living with neither parent	4.0	3.5	0.5
Living with grandparents	2.1	1.8	0.3

The 59 percent majority of children live in a traditional nuclear family—with their married, biological mother and father. This percentage was down slightly from the 61 percent of 2007. The percentage of children who live in a single-parent family (26 percent) did not change over the years. The great majority of these children (83 percent in 2019) live with their mother. 

Source: Census Bureau, Living Arrangements of Children: 2019

What Should Children Learn?

To think for oneself is the most important thing children should learn to prepare them for life, according to the 2021 General Social Survey. Nearly half of Americans aged 18 or older say thinking for oneself is number one...

"If you had to choose, which thing on this list would you pick as the most important for a child to learn to prepare him or her for life?"

1. To think for himself or herself: 46.7% 

2. To work hard: 25.4% 

3. To help others when they need help: 21.0% 

4. To obey: 5.8%

5. To be well-liked or popular: 1.1%

Thinking for oneself has been at the top of this list since the General Social Survey first asked the question 35 years ago in 1986. Back then, a larger 51 percent of the public rated thinking for oneself as the most important thing children should learn. What trait has shaved a few percentage points off of thinking for oneself over the years? Learning to work hard. Working hard rose from fourth place in 1986 (11 percent) to second place in 2021 (25 percent). Learning to help others has also gained over the decades, with 21 percent of respondents in 2021 saying it is the most important thing children should learn—up from 14 percent who felt that way in 1986. Obedience fell to fourth place in 2021 (6 percent), down from second place (23 percent) in 1986. Popularity has never been very popular, ranking last in both 2021 and 1986.

You might think the attitudes of younger and older adults would differ on this question. In fact, there are few differences of opinion. Take a look at the 2021 results...

"If you had to choose, which thing on this list would you pick as the most important for a child to learn to prepare him or her for life?"

	Under 45	45-plus
1. To think for himself or herself	44.6%	49.4%
2. To work hard	25.1	25.2
3. To help others when they need help	24.3	18.2
4. To obey	4.1	6.8
5. To be well-liked or popular	2.0	0.8

Younger adults (under age 45) and older adults (aged 45 or older) both say thinking for oneself is the most important thing children should learn. Not only that, but the rankings are identical for the other four qualities. Hard work is second, helping others is third, obedience is in fourth place and popularity last. 

Source: Demo Memo analysis of the 2021 General Social Survey

Fewest Nuclear Families since 1959

Among the nation's 130 million households in 2021, only 23.1 million were married couples with children under age 18. Not since 1959 have there been fewer nuclear families in the United States. In that year, the 22.9 million married couples with children under age 18 accounted for 45 percent of all households. Now nuclear families account for just 18 percent of households—the smallest share on record.

Percent of households headed by married couples with children under age 18 

2021: 17.8%

2020: 18.4%

2010: 20.9%

2000: 24.1%

1990: 26.3%

1980: 30.9%

1970: 40.3%

1960: 44.2%

1959: 44.5%

Counting both married couples and single parents, 26 percent of the nation's households include children under age 18. This, too, is the lowest share on record and down from 49 percent in 1959. What accounts for the steep decline in households with children? Some of the reasons are delayed marriage and childbearing as well as a growing preference among younger adults for having no children at all. According to a 2021 Pew Research Center survey, a substantial 44 percent of non-parents aged 18 to 49 think it is not too/not at all likely they will have children someday, up from 37 percent who felt this way in 2018. 

Source: Demo Memo analysis of the Census Bureau's Families and Households Data Tables

Stressful Life Events Are More Common among Children in Rural/Nonmetro Areas

A substantial percentage of the nation's school children have experienced stressful life events, according to an analysis by the National Center for Health Statistics. Using data from the 2019 National Health Interview Survey, the NCHS estimated the percentage of children aged 5 to 17 who had ever experienced one or more of the following stressful life events, as reported by an adult (usually a parent) who responded to the following questions...

• Has the child ever been the victim of violence or witnessed violence in his/her neighborhood?
• Has the child ever lived with a parent or guardian who served time in jail or prison?
• Did the child ever live with anyone who was mentally ill or severely depressed?
• Did the child ever live with anyone who had a problem with alcohol or drugs?

The findings are not what you might expect. On every measure, children who live in rural areas and small towns outside of metropolitan areas are more likely than those in small/medium metros, suburbs of large metros, or cities of large metros to have experienced stressful events.

Overall, 6.8 percent of children aged 5 to 17 had ever been exposed to violence in their neighborhood. Among children in rural/nonmetropolitan areas, 8.2 percent had been exposed to violence in their neighborhood versus 7.8 percent of children in small/medium metros, 6.3 percent of those in the cities of large metros, and 5.2 percent of those in the suburbs of large metros. 

Among school-aged children, 6.5 percent had ever lived with a parent/guardian who had served time in jail or prison. Again, the children most likely to have experienced this stress are those in rural/nonmetropolitan areas (9.4 percent), followed by children in small/medium metropolitan areas (8.0 percent), cities of large metro areas (5.1 percent), and suburbs of large metros (4.5 percent). 

A substantial 9.2 percent of children have ever lived with someone who was mentally ill or severely depressed. The figure ranges from a high of 12.0 percent for children in rural/nonmetropolitan areas to a low of 6.8 percent among children in the cities of large metropolitan areas. 

Fully 9.7 percent of children have ever lived with someone who had a problem with alcohol or drugs. The figure ranges from a high of 13.7 percent among children in rural/nonmetropolitan areas to a low of 7.3 percent among children living in cities of large metropolitan areas.

Source: National Center for Health Statistics, Disparities in Stressful Life Events among Children Aged 5–17 Years: United States, 2019

How Far Do You Live from Your Mother?

If you're like most Americans with living mothers, your mom lives only a few miles away. Yes, even in these modern times.

"Very close residential proximity to one's mother beyond coresidence is common across the life course even in the geographically large United States," reports a study of proximity to mother in the journal Demographic Research.

Using data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, the study's researchers looked at how far children born between 1951 and 1968 lived from their mothers over a 47-year time period. Here are the results for children whose mother was alive at each given age...

Median distance adult children live from mother at each given age

Age 25 to 34: 6.3 miles

Age 35 to 44: 11.1 miles

Age 45 to 54: 12.4 miles

Age 55 to 64: 10.1 miles

"Overall, a large share of children lived very close to their mother through midlife," concludes the study.

Source: Demographic Research, Proximity to Mother over the Life Course in the United States: Overall Patterns and Racial Differences

One in Six Older Americans Is Childless

Who will care for childless adults as they age and require more help? That is one of the questions asked by the Census Bureau in its first examination of the aging childless population. The answers are important because the older childless population is growing as the baby-boom generation ages.

"In the United States, much of the care for older generations falls to their children," the Census Bureau explains. But millions of Americans aged 55 or older are childless. Here are the numbers...

Number (and percent) of childless Americans aged 55 or older (numbers in thousands)

Total 55-plus: 15,190 (16.5%)

Aged 55 to 64: 8,212 (19.6%)

Aged 65 to 74: 4,761 (15.9%)

Aged 75-plus: 2,214 (10.9%)

Note: The childless are those who have zero biological children.

The data for the report come from the 2018 Survey of Income and Program Participation. In 2018, the baby-boom generation was aged 54 to 72. Among younger boomers, aged 55 to 64, fully one in five is childless. 

A substantial 40 percent of childless adults aged 55 or older live alone, according to the analysis. Among adults aged 55-plus who are parents, a smaller 21 percent live alone. "Childless adults appear to have fewer immediate sources of social support within their households," notes the report. "They are more likely than parents to be living alone and less likely to be living with a spouse."

But childless older adults also have some advantages. They are more educated than their counterparts who had children. As a consequence, their net worth is also higher than average. The median personal net worth of childless adults aged 55 or older was $153,900 in 2018. For all adults aged 55-plus, median personal net worth was a smaller $133,500 and for older parents just $130,400. The higher net worth of the childless "may put them at a greater advantage when it comes to obtaining paid care," states the report. 

Source: Census Bureau, Childless Older Americans: 2018

55% of 12-17 Age Group Has Received a Covid Vaccine

Just 55 percent of the nation's children aged 12 to 17 have received at least one dose of a Covid vaccine, according to the Census Bureau's Household Pulse Survey fielded July 21-August 2. This iteration of the survey is the first time the bureau has asked about the vaccination status of the 12-to-17 age group. With the school year starting in a few weeks, this relatively low vaccination rate is concerning. 

There are 15 million vaccine resistant parents, according to the Census Bureau—or one third of all parents. The bureau defines the vaccine resistant as all parents who say their child will "probably" get the vaccine as well as those who say their child will "probably not/unsure/definitely not" get the vaccine. Here are the reasons for their resistance (more than one reason could be cited)...

Reasons for vaccine resistance among parents of children aged 12-17

62% are concerned about possible side effects

39% plan to wait and see if it is safe

32% don't trust Covid-19 vaccines

26% don't trust the government

22% say children in household are not at high risk

21% do not believe children need a vaccine

12% are unsure if the vaccine will work for children

  9% say their children's doctor has not recommended vaccination

  4% say they do not vaccinate their children

The most recent iteration of the Household Pulse Survey asks adults whether they are fully vaccinated. As of early August, 79 percent of adults aged 18 or older report being fully vaccinated. 

Source: Census Bureau, Week 34 Household Pulse Survey: July 21-August 2

Record Low Household Growth in 2010s

The number of households in the United States grew by only 9.3 percent over the past 10 years—from 118 million in 2010 to 128 million in 2020. This is the slowest household growth on record, capped off by the first ever annual decline in households between 2019 and 2020. 

Number of households, 2010 and 2020 (in 000s)

	2020	2010	percent change
Total households	128,451	117,538	9.3%
With children under 18	33,464	35,218	-5.0

The number of households with children under age 18 fell by nearly 1.8 million during the decade. Behind the decline is the ongoing baby-bust, which is predicted to deepen as coronavirus further reduces births. 

Source: Census Bureau, Families & Living Arrangements

Most Eat Sweets on an Average Day

On an average day, 70 percent of children and 61 percent of adults eat sweets, according to the USDA's Food Surveys Research Group. Notice the word "eat." These lofty percentages include only the consumption of sweet food—items such as nutrition bars, cakes, pies, cookies, doughnuts, candy, ice cream, and other solid foods with added sugar. Fruit is not included, nor are sweetened drinks. 

The types of sweets children and adults consume on an average day is surprisingly similar. Sweet bakery products comprise the largest share for both age groups (45 percent). Candy accounts for another 30 percent of the sweets consumed by children and 31 percent of the sweets consumed by adults.

On an average day, younger children are more likely than older children to eat sweets. Among adults, those aged 60-plus are more likely to eat sweets than young or middle-aged adults. 

Percent who ate sweets on an average day, 2015–18

Aged 2 to 5: 74%

Aged 6 to 11: 78%

Aged 12 to 19: 62%

Aged 20 to 39: 55%

Aged 40 to 59: 60%

Aged 60-plus: 70%

Daily calorie intake is 300 to 400 calories greater for those who eat sweets versus those who do not. Sweets account for 18 to 19 percent of the total daily calorie intake among children and for 19 percent of daily calories among adults aged 60 or older.  

Source: USDA Food Surveys Research Group, What We Eat in America, NHANES 2015–2018, Sweet Foods Consumption by Children in the U.S. and Sweet Foods Consumption by Adults in the U.S.

How Important Is Computer Science Education?

The 69 percent majority of parents with children in grades 7 through 12 think it is important for their children to learn computer science, but only 35 percent think it is very important, according to a Gallup survey supported by Google. For the survey, computer science is defined as "the study of computers, including both hardware and software design, development and programming." It does not include simply using a computer, doing online research, or creating documents on a computer.  

Students themselves are even less likely than parents to think it is important to learn computer science. Only 40 percent think it is important, and just 16 percent think it is very important. Boys (22 percent) are more likely than girls (9 percent) to think it is very important to learn computer science.

Among parents, 32 percent think it is very likely that their child will need to know computer science for their career someday. Just 35 percent of parents have ever encouraged their child to pursue a career in computer science. Among students, only 10 percent say they are very likely to pursue a career in computer science.

Source: Gallup, Parents Think Computer Science Education Is Important

Working Mothers: Unsung Heroes

Back in the good old pre-Covid days of 2019, most preschoolers went to day care. The 59 percent majority of children aged 0 to 5 and not yet in kindergarten participated in regularly scheduled nonparental care at least weekly, according to the Early Childhood Program Participation Survey. Among children whose mother and father worked full-time, 86 percent were in day care in 2019.

Fast forward to today. The coronavirus pandemic is making it all but impossible for many parents to work now that children are at home rather than in day care or at school. How many parents are unable to work because of these child care issues? A lot, according to the Census Bureau's Household Pulse Survey. Among adults aged 18 to 64, a substantial 18 percent reported as of mid-July that they were not working because of Covid-19 related child care issues. Among adults aged 25 to 44, almost one in four (24 percent) were not working because of the lack of child care during the pandemic. Among women aged 25 to 44, the figure was 31 percent.

Percent of 25-to-44-year-olds not working due to Covid-19 related child care issues, July 16-21
Total: 18.2%
Men: 11.6%
Women: 30.9%

"Parents are among the unsung heroes of this crisis," notes the Census Bureau. "They have adapted their households and juggled work, children's schooling and other household needs. However, the pandemic uniquely affected mothers' work in formal labor markets."

Source: Census Bureau, Working Moms Bear Brunt of Home Schooling while Working during Covid-19

36% of Kids Eat Fast Food on an Average Day

Fast food is a big part of the daily diet of American children. On an average day in 2015–18, more than one-third of children aged 2 to 19 (36 percent) ate fast food, according to the National Center for Health Statistics' National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. The survey is an in-person interview asking a nationally representative sample of respondents (or, in the case of children, their parents) to recall their food intake over the past 24 hours. The survey defines fast food as food sourced from a fast-food or pizza restaurant.

Overall, fast food accounted for 14 percent of children's daily calorie intake in 2015–18. It accounts for a greater percentage of daily calories among teens aged 12 to 19 (17 percent) than among children aged 2 to 11 (11 percent). By race and Hispanic origin, fast food accounts for 21.5 percent of daily calorie intake for Blacks teens, the most of any demographic segment. Among Hispanic teens, the figure is 18.5 percent, and among non-Hispanic whites 14.8 percent.

Fast food consumption of children aged 2 to 19, average day 2015–18
64% consumed no fast food
11% consumed less than 25 percent of calories from fast food
14% consumed 25 to 45 percent of calories from fast food
11% consumed over 45 percent of calories from fast food

Source: National Center for Health Statistics, Fast Food Intake among Children and Adolescents in the United States, 2015–2018

Why Parents Are Tearing Their Hair Out

Modern American parents do not devote all that much time to child care. Instead, they depend on day care providers, schools, and extracurricular activities to do much of the heavy lifting. Or, they used to. Parents, more than any other segment of the population, have had their daily lives turned upside down by the coronavirus.

Consider the time use of parents before the pandemic. On an average day in 2019, parents with children under age 18 spent only 1.36 hours a day caring for their children as a primary activity (their main activity), according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics' American Time Use Survey. Mothers spent 1.74 hours a day and fathers 0.91 hours a day caring for children.

Before coronavirus, few parents spent any time engaged in education-related activities with children. Parents devoted only 0.11 hours (less than 7 minutes) to their child's educational activities on an average day in 2019. Most parents did not engage in education-related activities with their children at all, according to a BLS analysis of time use data from 2015–19. For married parents, here are the percentages who participated in education-related activities with their children on an average day...

Married parents engaging in education-related activities with children, average day 2015–19
  5.2% of fathers with full-time jobs
  9.2% of mothers with full-time jobs
18.2% of mothers with part-time jobs
19.4% of mothers who are not employed

Now imagine how many parents are engaged in education-related activities with their children on an average day in 2020 and how much time they are devoting to it.

Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics, Average Hours Per Day Parents Spent Caring for and Helping Household Children as Their Main Activity

What Parents Want

Only 36 percent of parents want full-time in-person schooling to resume in the upcoming school year, according to a Gallup survey. As school start dates approach and Covid-19 infections surge, the percentage of parents who support full-time in-person instruction has dropped precipitously since June, when the 56 percent majority of parents supported traditional instruction.

Parents' preferences for the resumption of school (July 13-27)
Full-time in person school: 36%
Part-time in-person/part-time remote: 36%
Full-time remote instruction: 28%

Behind the 20 percentage-point drop in support of full-time in-person instruction are parents' growing fears that their children will become infected with Covid-19. Between June and July, the percentage of parents who are somewhat/very worried about their child becoming infected climbed from 46 to 64 percent. This growing fear explains the 21 percentage-point increase in parents' preference for full-time remote instruction, which rose from just 7 percent in June to the 28 percent of July. There was almost no change in the percentage of parents who favor a mix of in-person and remote schooling.

Republicans are far less concerned than Democrats about their children going back to school. Among parents who are Democrats, only 13 percent favor full-time in-person schooling. Among parents who are Republicans, 68 percent favor traditional instruction.

Source: Gallup, Fewer U.S. Parents Want Full-Time In-Person Fall Schooling

When Should Children Have Their Own Smartphone?

Today's parents are concerned about their children's screen time. Fully 71 percent of parents with children under age 12 are worried about their child spending too much time in front of a screen, according to a Pew Research Center survey. Two out of three parents say parenting is harder today than it used to be, with many citing technology as the reason. Despite these concerns, the great majority of parents with a child aged 5 to 11 say their child uses tablet computers and smartphones, as do nearly half of parents with a child under age 5...

Parents with a child aged 5 to 11
80% say their child uses/interacts with a tablet computer
63% say their child uses/interacts with a smartphone

Parents with a child under age 5
48% say their child uses/interacts with a tablet computer
55% say their child uses/interacts with a smartphone

What is the appropriate age for children to have their own device? When it comes to smartphones, 73 percent of parents think a child should be 12 or older, with 45 percent giving the nod to children aged 12 to 14 and another 28 percent wanting to wait until a child is aged 15 to 17. Parents are more lax when it comes to tablet computers. Fully 65 percent think children can have their own tablet computer before the age of 12, while 31 percent say the child should be 12 or older.

Source: Pew Research Center, Parenting Children in the Age of Screens

Back to School Jitters

The nation's parents are not happy. Most of them (51 percent) are very/extremely worried about sending their children back to school in the fall, according to the Axios/Ipsos Coronavirus Index fielded July 10-13.

An even larger 71 percent of parents think their family's health and wellbeing will be at moderate/large risk if they send their children to school in the fall, with the 43 percent plurality of parents calling the risk large. Do the calculation, and that's 31 million parents—or 1 in 8 voters—who are freaking out, not to mention millions more teachers and grandparents. This wave of worries should keep even the most callous school board member, school superintendent, mayor, governor, congressional representative, and senator up at night, concerned about their careers if not their constituents.

Coronavirus worries are not limited to parents. The 59 percent majority of the public is now very/extremely concerned about the coronavirus pandemic, according to the Axios/Ipsos poll. This figure is 11 percentage points higher than it was a month ago and approaching the 66 percent peak level of concern recorded in early April.

Source: Axios/Ipsos Coronavirus Index, Despite Seeing Great Risk, Americans Slow to Make Major Changes to Deal with Covid

The Big Experiment in Remote Learning

One-fifth of the nation's households are taking part in a massive experiment in remote learning. Among the 129 million households in the United States, 26 million are families with children aged 6 to 17—children whose school buildings are now closed due to the coronavirus pandemic and who are receiving their lessons at home. Among householders aged 35 to 44, the majority are supervising children who are learning remotely.

Percent of households with children aged 6 to 17 by age of householder
Total households: 20.4%
Under age 25: 3.6%
Aged 25 to 29: 14.9%
Aged 30 to 34: 31.3%
Aged 35 to 39: 50.2%
Aged 40 to 44: 55.1%
Aged 45 to 49: 45.8%
Aged 50 to 54: 26.6%
Aged 55 to 64: 6.7%
Aged 65-plus: 1.0%

Source: Demo Memo analysis of the Census Bureau's America's Families and Living Arrangements: 2019

40% of Hispanic Households Include Children

Households headed by Asians, Blacks, and Hispanics are more likely to include children under age 18 than are households headed by non-Hispanic Whites, according to the Census Bureau's 2019 Current Population Survey. Behind the difference is the fact that non-Hispanic Whites, on average, are considerably older than Asians, Blacks, or Hispanics and less likely to be in their childrearing years.

Households with children under age 18 by race and Hispanic origin of householder, 2019
Asian: 35%
Black: 26%
Hispanic: 40%
Non-Hispanic White: 23%

Among the nation's 34 million households with children under age 18, non-Hispanic Whites head the 57 percent majority. Hispanics head 21 percent of households with children, Blacks (alone) head 13 percent, and Asians (alone) 7 percent.

Source: Census Bureau, America's Families and Living Arrangements: 2019

Only 26% of Households Include Children Under Age 18

Only 26 percent of American households include children under age 18, according to the Census Bureau's 2019 Current Population Survey—a new record low. This is 10 percentage points below the 36 percent of 2000 and about half what it was in 1960, when 49 percent of households included children—a modern-day high in the midst of the baby boom.

Percent of households with children under age 18 by age of householder, 2019
Under age 25: 18%
Aged 25 to 29: 33%
Aged 30 to 34: 51%
Aged 35 to 39: 65%
Aged 40 to 44: 62%
Aged 45 to 49: 49%
Aged 50 to 54: 27%
Aged 55 to 64: 7%
Aged 65-plus: 1%

The average age of householders with children under age 18 is just 40, well below the average age of 52 for all householders. Seventy percent of households with children are headed by married couples, 23 percent by female householders, and 7 percent by male householders.

Source: Census Bureau, America's Families and Living Arrangements: 2019