Physical Safety Crime rates have dropped in Canada for five consecutive years, and the majority of children live in neighbourhoods that their parents consider to be safe. However, one in four children lives in an area that is unsafe after dark according to their pa rents. Air pollution and rates of asthma have increased. Also, the number of hospital admis sions due to respiratory illness among children has risen by 40 per cent. The rate of injury-related deaths has decreased among children, likely reflecting improved regulation of hazardous activities and better safety standards.
Vehicle accidents remain the leading cause of children's accidental deaths.
Community Resources Schools are facing shortages of science equipment. More than 75 per cent of children attended schools where teachers reported that basic supplies were at least adequate in 1994, but less than half of the teachers reported that they had adequate scie nce equipment. Public health insurance enables Canadian children at all income levels to make the same average number of visits to doctors. By comparison, one-third of American children did not have health insurance at some point in 1995 or 1996, and they were eig ht times less likely than insured children to visit a doctor. In 1995, government health care spending as a percentage of GDP fell for the first time in 25 years.