Lies, damnable lies and statistics

[valarltd]

The other day the "Only 23% of US households are children living with their married parents" canard got trotted out.

Yeah, it's an accurate number. Comes straight off the census site. What isn't being told by that number:

only 35% of US households actually HAVE children in them!
And only 7% of households are single female with children.

So, we have 5% of US households where kids are living with adoptive parents, fathers, grandparents or *gasp* same-sex parents.

Somehow, this fails to strike me as a crisis.

I also pointed out that 28% of the American population is Baby Boomers and they're all empty-nesting.

I love making the Heads of the Unthinking spin. Maybe they'll twist right off and I can mount them on my roundhouse wall like a good hutproud Irishwoman.

Comments

[elke-tanzer.livejournal.com]

You rock.

[vysila.livejournal.com]

Thank you for pointing out how easily numbers can be manipulated. Statistical distortion has been a common weapon in all civil rights issues and it's good to point out the whole picture whenever possible, letting people know they are being manipulated. In many cases it makes no difference, but sometimes it does.

I love your "Heads of the Unthinking", especially imagining them spinning around. *g*