WASHINGTON (AP) -- Fewer babies are dying. Fewer teenage girls are having babies. Smoking is dropping among 8th and 10th graders.

There's encouraging news in a report, being released Friday, that brings together recent figures on the health, economics and education of some 70 million children in the United States. The report was compiled by the Federal Interagency Forum on Child and Family Statistics.

Officials celebrated the successes but noted there was no improvement on many measures of well-being.

The best news might be a substantial drop in infant mortality. In 1999, the report said, 7 of every 1,000 babies under age 1 died. That was down from 7.2 in 1998 after declining throughout the 1990s.

The rate fell again in 2000, said a separate report also being released Friday, to 6.9 deaths per 1,000 babies.

"It's a triumph of science and health performance," said Dr. Duane Alexander, director of the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

Alexander attributed the reduction to clinical improvements in treatment of respiratory distress syndrome and a reduction in Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, achieved largely through a campaign to put babies to sleep on their backs.

Other positive trends include:

-More children were covered by health insurance, up from 87 percent in 1999 to 88 percent in 2000. Officials credited the relatively new State Children's Health Insurance Program, which covers children in working poor families.

-Fewer 8th and 10th graders smoked, though smoking rates for high school seniors were statistically unchanged. Last year, 5.5 percent of 8th graders smoked, down from 7.4 percent in 2000; among 10th graders, 12 percent smoked, down from 14 percent.

-More children were read to every day by a family member, 58 percent last year, up from 54 percent in 1999.

-More youngsters ages 2 to 5 had a good diet - 27 percent in 1998, up from 21 percent in 1996.

Numerous measures did not change: In 2000, 16 percent of children lived in poverty, 76 percent of toddlers got the recommended immunizations and 87 percent of young adults finished high school. Drug and alcohol use among junior high and high school students held steady.

Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson urged Americans "to rededicate our efforts as a nation, and as individuals, to protect children, provide them opportunity and good examples, and build foundations that will last their lifetimes."

In a special feature this year, the report found that in 2001, 19 percent of children had at least one parent born outside the United States, up from 14 percent in 1994.

Copyright 2002 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.