Economic instability is the biggest threat to the well-being of children in Maine, according to recently released annual national child wellness report Kids Count.

In children's economic well-being, Maine's ranking slipped from 20th in 2013 to 29th this year. It may be noted here that economic well-being is one of the four areas that are measured to rank the overall well-being of children in the United States.

The latest Kids count report pointed out that many families in Maine are not able to meet the basic needs of their children due to lack of full-time work and high housing costs.

Claire Berkowitz, executive director of the Maine Children's Alliance, said, "Maine's economy is not working for our children. Too many kids are living in families where no parent has full-time work, where housing costs take up a large portion of the family budget, or where wages don't meet the basic needs of a family."

It may be noted here that the Maine Children's Alliance is responsible for producing the state-level Maine Kids Count report.

In other three categories, viz. education, health and family & community, Maine ranked 14th, 3rd and 6th, respectively. The report said that the state made progress in all of these three areas. But overall, Maine's rank slipped by one position to 14th among the states. The 2013 Kids count report had ranked the state at the 13th position.