"America's Children: Key National Indicators of Well-Being" provides data in 25 areas, from pre-natal care to health, educa- tion, mortality and substance abuse indicators. The data in the report are collected by various agencies, but this is the first time they have been pulled together to present a composite view of childhood in the United States. Required by a Presidential Executive Order, the report will be issued annually from now on.

The panel of federal agency officials most responsible for the data avoided drawing conclusions at a press conference here. The most any panel members would say is that the picture is "mixed" and that the indicators should guide policymaking from the White House on down to local areas.

The report shows positive trends in some areas--overall health, the percentage of parents reading to children, and the percentage of children enrolled in early childhood programs and graduating from college.

Areas where children's lives are not improving include the use of illict drugs and cigarettes and victimization of violent crimes.

One "snapshot" indicator, based on data available for only one year, shows that in 1993 there were 1.6 million children reported to be abused or neglected. More than 700,000 suffered physical, sexual or emotional abuse; almost 900,000 suffered physical, emotional or educational neglect.

The agencies involved in the data collection include the departments of Agriculture, Commerce, Education, Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Justice, Labor, the National Science Foundation and the Office of Management and Budget. They make up the Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics established by the Clinton Administration in 1994.

The data are available on the Internet as of July 2: http://www.cdc.gov/nchswww/about/otheract/children/child.htm