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Fact check: RFK Jr.’s claim that US has the ‘sickest children’ in world history
Fact-checkers say child mortality and infectious disease have fallen sharply over 200 years, even as chronic conditions rose 15% to 20% since 2011.
- On Thursday, Sept 10, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told the RNC in Dallas the United States has the "sickest children in the history of the world," citing high healthcare spending and chronic disease burden.
- Kennedy's statement ignores significant medical advancements achieved over the last 200 years; sanitation and medicine drove massive declines in childhood mortality since the 19th and 20th centuries.
- Data indicates chronic conditions among American children increased 15% to 20% between 2011 and 2023, yet childhood mortality remains about 80% lower than the global average with infectious diseases causing almost no deaths.
- Infants in the United States are 78% more likely to die than in other developed countries, with firearm-related fatalities 15 times higher than in other high-income nations.
- A 2024 National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine report found the United States ranks at the bottom among wealthy nations on children's physical health, mental wellbeing, and academic and social skills.
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28 Articles
28 Articles
Coverage Details
Total News Sources28
Leaning Left0Leaning Right1Center27Last UpdatedBias Distribution96% Center
Bias Distribution
- 96% of the sources are Center
96% Center
C 96%
Factuality
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