UTAH SOCIAL CAPITAL SERIES
Check out the other sections of the Utah Social Capital Series. Links will become live as reports are published
- Civic Engagement
- Social Trust
- Community Life
- Family Health
- Social Cohesion
- Focus on Future Generations
- Social Mobility
- Overall Index
The Flowering of Youth: The Next Generation in Utah is the Utah Foundation’s sixth report in its Utah Social Capital Series.
This installment presents data and analysis in four areas: the birth rate; investments in recreation; investments in public schools; and the ratio of children to the number of youth organizations. It looks at Utah’s performance on these measures over time, comparing the Beehive State both to the seven other Mountain States and to the nation at large.
KEY FINDINGS OF THIS REPORT
- Though Utah’s public investments in parks and recreation (relative to income) have generally been in decline, the state remains in the top five nationally.
- Utah’s state and local expenditures on primary and secondary education per $1,000 of personal income declined by a notable amount from 2008 to 2019, falling more than one-fifth. Utah is now below the national average on this metric.
- While Utah’s birth rate has been in precipitous decline, the Beehive State still leads the nation.
- Utah and neighboring Arizona are last in the nation when it comes to the number of youth organizations per 1,000 children aged 5 to 17. This is not typical of the region: Wyoming and Montana are the nation’s most prolific.
- The decline in funding effort both for education and recreation in Utah and elsewhere comes alongside a decline in the birth rate. It is possible that these downward trends are intertwined. Taken together, however, the trends suggest the focus on the next generation has become less sharp.
