November 8, 2001

Number of Children in North Dakota Declines 8 Percent in the 90s

There were 160,849 children ages 0 to 17 years in North Dakota in 2000. According to the recent Population Bulletin released from the North Dakota State Data Center at North Dakota State University, a majority of these children, 99.6 percent, lived in households. The remaining 0.4 percent (675 persons) resided in group quarter facilities.

A decade ago there were 175,385 children in the state, 8 percent more than the current number.

Seventy-five percent of North Dakota children ages 0 to 17 lived with both parents in 2000. Nationally, 66 percent of children live with both parents. Approximately 14 percent lived with their single mother and nearly 5 percent lived with their single father. Nationally, those figures are about 18 percent and 5 percent respectively.

A small but growing proportion of children in North Dakota live with their grandparents. In 1990, 2,628 children under age 18 lived with their grandparents. This number rose 48 percent to 3,901 in 2000. "It is likely that the proportion of children living with grandparents will increase in North Dakota for several reasons. First, the elderly proportion of our state is rising and at a significant rate. Second, the number of divorces and increased family strain, especially due to the economy, has pushed parents to explore alternative care options for their children. Care-giving by grandparents is one of those options," said Richard Rathge, director of the State Data Center.

Nationally, North Dakota had the lowest proportion of children ages 0 to 17 living with their grandparents (2.4 percent).

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Source: Richard Rathge, (701) 231-8621, richard.rathge@ndsu.nodak.edu
Editor: Tom Jirik, (701) 231-9629, tjirik@ndsuext.nodak.edu

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