Where have all the children gone?
While the nationwide under-18 population fell by 1.4 percent from 2010 to 2020, and in Rhode Island, it dropped by 6 percent, the numbers are dramatically higher for the Newport area, according to the recently released 2025 Rhode Island Kids Count Factbook.
Every community in the Newport area saw a dramatic loss in its under 18 population from a low of 14 percent in Tiverton to a high of 36 percent in Newport, according to the Kids Count Factbook, which looked at the under18 population from 1990 to 2020. The Annie E. Casey Foundation, which reported on national numbers, measured the decrease from 2010 to 2020.
Either way, the under 18 population is declining. The Casey Foundation also shows a dramatic shift in the under 18 population, from one that was predominately white, to one dominated today by those of color.
According to The Casey Foundation “children of color grew more common within the total child population, going from 26 percent of all children in 1980 to 53 percent in 2020.
For Rhode Island, the Casey Foundation reports 53 percent of children under 18 are white and 47 percent of color.
Interestingly, states like Texas and Florida, among the most vocal in support of deportation, have much more disproportionate numbers, according to the Casey Foundation: Texas, with 29 percent white, and 71 percent of color; Florida with 39 percent white, and 61 percent of color.
Here’s what Rhode Island Kids Count found in the Newport area:
- Newport’s under-18 population dropped by 36 percent from 1990 (5,756) to 2020 (3,660).
- Children living in families below the federal poverty threshold (2019-2023), 25.1 percent, well above Rhode Island’s 13.3 percent.
- Children receiving SNAP benefits in 2024, some 942. The Republican “Big, Beautiful Bill” proposes major SNAP benefit cuts.
- Children with incarcerated parents, per 1,000 residents. Even though there has been a substantial decrease in the number of under-18 children in Newport, this is an area that has increased, from 10.5 per 1,000 children (2015-2019) to 21 per 1,000 children (2019-2023). That’s well above the Rhode Island rate of 8.6 in 2019-2023.
- Middletown’s under-18 population dropped by 25 percent from 1990 (4,676) to 2020 (3,487).
- Children living in families below the federal poverty threshold (2019-2023), 14.1 percent.
- Children receiving SNAP benefits in 2024, some 394.
- Children with incarcerated parents, per 1,000 residents, 3.4.
- Little Compton’s under-18 population dropped by 24 percent from 1990 (750) to 2020 (568).
- Children living in families below the federal poverty threshold, 1.7 percent.
- Children receiving SNAP benefits in 2024, some 26.
- Children with incarcerated parents, per 1,000 residents, 7.
- Jamestown’s under-18 population dropped by 22 percent from 1990 (1,123) to 2020 (871).
- Children living in families below the federal poverty threshold, not reported.
- Children receiving SNAP benefits in 2024, some 23.
- Children with incarcerated parents, per 1,000 residents, 0.
- Portsmouth’s under-18 population dropped by 18 percent from 1990 (750) to 2020 (568).
- Children living in families below the federal poverty threshold (2019-2023), 5.1 percent.
- Children receiving SNAP benefits in 2024, some 173.
- Children with incarcerated parents, per 1,000 residents, 0.6.
- Tiverton’s under-18 population dropped by 14 percent from 1990 (3,166) to 2020 (2,723).
- Children living in families below the federal poverty threshold (2019-2023), 2.3 percent.
- Children receiving SNAP benefits in 2024, some 263.
- Children with incarcerated parents, per 1,000 residents, 3.3.
The Casey Foundation also made some significant observations.
- “Children of color accounted for all the growth in the child population between 2010 and 2020.” Non-Hispanic white children fell by 5.1 million between 2010 and 2020 (from 39.7 million to 34.6 million). The population for children of color grew by four million, from 34.5 million to 38.5 million. The share that children of color represented of the total under-18 population nearly doubled from 1980 to 2020, from 26 percent to 53 percent.
- The under-18 population in 1900 represented 40.4 percent of the overall population. In 2020, that dropped to 22.1 percent.
- While some might want to attribute the growth of the non-white childhood population to immigration, figures say differently, with 97 percent due to births and only 3 percent from “net immigration.”
- Casey Foundation attributes the overall decline in the under-18 population to a movement toward smaller families and declining birth rates; a growth in the adult population as life expectancy increases; and immigration, “which largely involves adults.”