a new report finds children are now making up the smallest ever share of the U.S population down to 73 million people in 2020 from more than 74 million people just 10 years ago that's an all-time low according to the Annie E Casey Foundation which put together the data New Jersey's child population dropped by more than 57 thousand kids over the last decade but while overall numbers are decreasing diversity among those kids is expanding in New Jersey the number of kids of color jumped 10 percent over the last decade now representing 58 percent of that total population for 2020. to help us understand what this means for both our kids and the future of our country I'm joined by Peter Chen senior policy analyst with New Jersey policy perspective Peter Chen it is so great to have you here in the studio first of all to what can we account for the fact that we're seeing this child population decrease and this has been happening I should mention through the report really over time I think that's definitely true you know we've seen birth rates decline nationally and in New Jersey over this time period and New Jersey's child population has really been buoyed by higher immigration levels which have started slowing towards the end of the the decade I will say that in the most recent calendar year so after this the 2020 census came out there was a slight uptick in births and we don't know if that Trend will continue into subsequent years but we have seen a small uptick in 2021 in total birds in New Jersey so that's a sign that you know families are maybe having more kids and maybe a positive sign towards child population growth in the future well it's interesting though because although the population is declining diversity among our kids is growing in New Jersey in particular among Hispanic children so what are the implications for the future there and how we go about crafting policy to make sure that those kids are front of Mind well I think you know diversity and equity and inclusion have become like a buzzword but when dealing with the child population it's really a necessity because kids are coming in with a really diverse array of backgrounds and experiences that they're bringing into the public school system into the public health system and it's really important that we have cultural competence across all these areas so one example is there's a bill currently going through the New Jersey legislature they'll hopefully require that all New Jersey state departments produce forms in the top 15 most spoken languages and that's great but again top 15 most spoken languages gets you a lot but it doesn't get you the whole range of diversity if we think about municipality like Patterson or Jersey City or Newark right we're talking about maybe you know 75 100 150 languages sometimes being spoken within one school district so thinking about the necessary policy changes it'll really require thinking about what those children are experiencing and just as context for the the diversity itself you know we see these census-based race categories you know white black Hispanic Latino Asian but these are not monoliths right within let's say the Asian population there's a really diverse array of backgrounds you know Asia contains literally half the world's population you know it's a it's a huge continent with lots of people with lots of backgrounds and some uh racism and ethnicities are not really included in the census like Middle Eastern or North African populations who have historically been asked to answer as white um and I wonder too how much under counting was there we know of course what the census was up against in 2020 with the pandemic so just how much can the state account for that yeah you know the most recent reporting showed that there was a pretty substantial undercount in Black and Latino and Hispanic children particularly high for the overlap between those that is black children who also identify as Hispanic Latino so you know that's a continued concern moving forward of ensuring that not only are we counting all the kids as they are but also whether we have the services necessary to support them through their their life cycle uh well we should note that although the report says younger people are having less children you're recently back from paternity leave so I'm doing my part doing your part uh thank you so much and congratulations thanks Peter thanks for joining me thanks very much [Music]