Children’s Environmental Health Facts
Children are uniquely vulnerable to environmental hazards, with exposure to pollutants linked to chronic health conditions such as asthma, childhood cancer, and neurodevelopmental disorders. Understanding the prevalence and impact of health concerns is essential to protecting children. Learn more about what EPA does to protect children’s health.
This webpage provides key facts and statistics, highlighting trends and economic impacts of childhood health concerns.
Asthma
Exposure to air pollution, allergens, and indoor contaminants like mold or secondhand smoke can trigger or worsen asthma in children. Learn more about asthma and what EPA is doing to improve asthma outcomes.
- Asthma affects about 1 out of every 15 children in the United States (ACE).
- As of 2023, nearly 8 million children had been diagnosed with asthma at some point in their lives, with 5 million children currently reporting to suffer from asthma (CDC).
- In 2021, among children with asthma, more than 1 in 3 (1.8 million children) had an asthma attack (ACE).
- in 2022, the rate of emergency room visits for asthma was 86 visits per 10,000 children (ACE).
Population Differences
- Among children younger than 18 years old, boys were 20% more likely to report having asthma than girls between 2018-2021 (ACE).
- Asthma rates of children from lower-income families and children from various racial and ethnic groups differ (CDC).
- In 2018-2021, children living below the poverty line were diagnosed with asthma at a rate 50% higher than children living at or above the poverty line (ACE).
- Non-Hispanic Black children had almost twice the rate of asthma compared to the overall child population in 2018-2021 (ACE).
- Non-Hispanic Black children were almost 4 times more likely to die from asthma as compared with the overall child population in 2021 (CDC).
- Non-Hispanic Black children were more than twice as likely to go to the emergency room for asthma or other respiratory conditions compared with the overall child population in 2017-2020 (ACE).
Economic Impacts
- Asthma is projected to cost the U.S. economy $125 billion by 2035. This includes the cost of medical care and costs from lost productivity (CDC).
- Among school-aged children, asthma is one of the main causes of missed school days; approximately half of all school-aged children with asthma missed at least one school day due to asthma in 2013, for a total that year of 13.8 million school days due to asthma (CDC).
Childhood Cancer
Certain environmental exposures such as air pollutants and chemicals may increase the risk of childhood cancer or cancer development later in life.
- The causes of most childhood cancer are not fully understood, though different forms of cancer have different causes. A number of studies suggest that environmental contaminants, including radiation, secondhand smoke, pesticides, and solvents, may play a role in the development of some childhood cancers (NCI, ACE).
- In 2024, an estimated 15,000 children under 20 years old were expected to be diagnosed with cancer (NCI).
- Leukemia is the most common cancer among children, accounting for about one third of all childhood cancers, followed by brain and other nervous system cancers (ACE).
- Childhood cancer diagnoses have increased about 1% each year since the 1990s (ACE).
- In 2024, cancer was the leading cause of death by disease after infancy among children in the U.S. (NCI).
- The cancer death rate among children younger than 20 years old has decreased by a third between 1992 to 2018 (ACE). In 2024, an estimated 1,600 children were expected to die from cancer (NCI).
Population Differences
- Childhood cancer rates are generally higher for boys than for girls. From 2016-2018, the rate of cancer for boys was about 200 cases per million, while the rate for girls was about 175 cases per million (ACE).
- Childhood cancer rates also vary by age. From 2016–2018, children under 5 years and those ages 15 to 19 years had the highest rates of cancer (ACE).
Economic Impacts
- Leukemias and cancer of the brain and nervous system are the costliest types of childhood cancer to treat.
Neurodevelopmental Disorders
Exposure to certain toxic substances like lead, mercury, and other chemicals during critical periods of brain development can contribute to neurodevelopmental disorders. Neurodevelopmental disorders include attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorder (ASD), learning disabilities, and intellectual disabilities. Learn more about neurodevelopmental disorders. Also learn more about lead, mercury, and other chemicals and what EPA is doing to reduce exposures.
- Among school-aged children, parents reported that about 1 in 9 had ADHD, 1 in 32 had autism, 1 in 13 had learning disability, and 1 in 55 had an intellectual disability in 2021 (ACE).
- The prevalence of autism has increased from one in 150 children aged 8 years old in 2000 to one in 36 in 2020 (CDC).
- Between 1997 and 2021, the rates of reported ADHD cases rose 4% among 5 to 17-year-olds (ACE).
Population Differences
ADHD
- Among school-aged children, ADHD was reported almost twice as often in boys as in girls in 2018–2021 (ACE).
- In 2018–2021, parents reported ADHD for children living below the poverty level about 40% more often than for children living at or above the poverty level (ACE).
Autism Spectrum Disorder
- Among school-aged children, autism was reported almost three times more often in boys than in girls in 2018-2021 (ACE).
- In 2018–2021, parents reported autism for children living below the poverty level about 50% more often than for children living at or above the poverty level (ACE).
- In 2018–2021, parents reported autism in non-Hispanic Black children more than any other racial and ethnic group (ACE).
Learning Disabilities
- In 2021, the percentage of boys between ages 5-17 years reported to have a learning disorder was over 50% higher compared to girls (ACE).
- In 2018–2021, the percentage of children reported to have a learning disability was more than 50% higher for children living below the poverty level compared with those living at or above the poverty level (ACE).
Intellectual Disabilities
- In 2018–2021, the percentage of boys reported to have intellectual disability was about 75% higher compared to girls (ACE).
- In 2018–2021, the percentage of children reported to have an intellectual disability was nearly 50% higher in children living below the poverty compared with children living at or above the poverty level (ACE).
- In 2018–2021, the percentage of children reported to have an intellectual disability was lowest for non-Hispanic Asian children (0.7%) and was between 1.3% and 2.8% for the other race/ethnicity groups (ACE).
Economic Impacts
- The annual healthcare cost in the United States to treat autism is estimated to be $3.9 billion dollars for data collected in 2013-2015 (in 2018 dollars) (Zuvekas et.al. 2021).
- The estimated annual direct and indirect costs of childhood ADHD is between $38-72 billion (CDC).
About These Statistics and Facts
Many of the statistics and facts above come from EPA’s America’s Children and the Environment (ACE). ACE provides national trends on children’s environmental health. These indicators are built on data collected by the federal government, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Health Interview Survey, National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey, National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey; and the National Cancer Institute’s Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program. The economic impact data is from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality’s Medical Expenditure Panel Survey.
EPA also produces the Report on the Environment on broader environmental topics, and the Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics provides broader indictors on children’s health in America's Children.