Part I: Population and Family Characteristics

In 2000, there were 70.4 million children under age 18 in the United States, or 26 percent of the population, down from a peak of 36 percent at the end of the baby boom (1964). Children are projected to remain a substantial percentage of the total population, and are projected to comprise 24 percent of the population in 2020.
The racial and ethnic diversity of America's children continues to increase. In 2000, 64 percent of U.S. children were white, non-Hispanic; 15 percent were black, non-Hispanic; 4 percent were Asian/Pacific Islander; and 1 percent were American Indian/Alaska Native. The number of Hispanic children has increased faster than that of any other racial and ethnic group, growing any other racial and ethnic group, growing from 9 percent of the child population in 1980 to 16 percent in 2000.
In 2001, 61 percent of children from birth through age 6 (not yet in kindergarten) received some form of child care on a regular basis from persons other than their parents.
In 1997, nearly half of preschoolers (children under age 5) with working mothers were primarily cared for by a relative while their mother worked, while 22 percent were primarily cared for by nonrelatives in a home-based environment and another 22 percent were cared for in a center-based arrangement.
Children were more likely to engage in some kind of organized before- or after-school activity as they aged. For example, in 2001, 27 percent of kindergarten through 3rd graders and 39 percent of 4th-through-8th graders participated in sports.