general child safety facts & statistics

General Child Safety Facts & Statistics

Most people have a rather narrow focus when it comes to child safety issues. Keeping our youngsters safe goes far beyond stranger danger. These pages should give you an idea of the risks out there, and hopefully give you renewed appreciation of the importance of safety training your children.

1. Accidental injury is the leading cause of death among children in the United States, taking more lives than disease, violence or suicide.

2. The odds of your child being killed by a preventable accident while under your care or the care of someone close to you is about 40,000 to 80,000 times more likely than is the possibility of them being murdered by a registered sex-offender. (So practically speaking, for every hour spent worrying about sex offenders, you should spend 80,000 hours focusing on these other things. Of course, that would be impractical. Just something to put things into perspective.)

3. Overall, boys have a significantly higher rate of accidental death from unintentional injuries than do girls.

4. For children ages 4 and younger, the leading causes of injury-related death are 1) Car accidents, 2) Drowning, 3) Fires and burns, 4) Suffocation, 5) Pedestrian deaths, 6) Firearm mishaps & homicides, 7) Falls*

5. For kids ages 5-14, the leading causes of injury-related death are 1.) Car accidents, 2) Suffocation, 3) Firearm deaths, 4) Drowning, 5) Fire and burns, 6) Pedestrian accidents, 7) Falls*

6. The leading reasons for a child 4 or younger visiting the Emergency room are 1) Falls, 2) Being struck by or against an object or person, 3) Natural or environmental factors (allergic reactions, health problems, etc.) 4) Poisoning, 5) Motor vehicle accidents, tied for fifth with being cut or pierced by something, 6) Over-exertion*

7. For kids ages 5 to 14, the things that send them to the ER the most are 1) Falls, 2) Being struck by or against an object or person, 3) Natural or environmental factors, 4) Motor vehicle accidents, 5) Being cut or pierced, 6) Overexertion, 7) Poisoning*

8. Fatalities get people’s attention, but the numbers of deaths are dwarfed by the number of serious injuries ... many of which lead to lasting debilitation. So while around 20,000 children or so die every year from their injuries, the number of kids who drag their parents through a nightmare are greater than that, by a multitude of 5 to 20 times. Most of all, these are annual numbers. Multiply these risks for every year your child is alive (which will hopefully be a long time) and you should start to realize the importance of safety training.

9. Worldwide, accidental injury kills more than 2,000 children each and every day.

10. From 1980-2005, deaths from unintentional injuries have been cut by between 1/2 and two-thirds in the U.S.; a result of better safety standards and parent education. However, the fact that accidental injury remains the leading cause of death indicates we still have a lot of work to do.

The most important statistic:

Most safety experts and organizations, including ours, estimate that between 75 to 90 percent
of these tragedies could be avoided through better safety awareness and prevention.
15,000 to 18,000 kids in the U.S. die every year and millions more are seriously injured
due to a lack of time spent training on safety issues.

*Year-to-year statistical variations may change this order.

References:

1. CDC, "Fatal injuries among children by race & ethnicity-United States, 1999-2008," Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report, vol. 56, No. SS-5, 5-18-07 2. Childstats.gov, 1980-2005 Child Death Statistics. 3. Ibid

2. GCF (2009) Childhood Risk: A parents guide to the real dangers (Not yet available)

3. ChildStats.gov, 1980-2005 Child Death Statistics.

4. Ibid

5. Ibid

6. Ibid

7. Ibid

8. GCF

9. World Health Organization (2008) Global Burden of Disease: 2004 Update

10. ChildStats.gov, 1980-2005 Child Death Statistics 11. GCF