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If you feel like you can’t turn around without running into yet another snot-nosed* five-year-old kid, it’s because they’re everywhere—and the numbers exist to prove it.

D.C. Kids Count today released a report showing that while the population of kids under 18 fell by eight percent from 2000 to 2011, the number of kids under the age of five bucked the trend and rose 11 percent over the same period. All told, there are now 36,000 kids under five in the city. The report explains:

Higher birth rates and an expanding overall city population suggest the recent increase in young children will continue. The number of children born to DC residents has increased steadily over the past decade, from 7,666 births in 2000 to 9,156 births in 2010. DC’s fertility rate — the number of births per 1,000 women ages 15 to 44 — has increased as well, though not as steadily. In 2000, the fertility rate was 53.3 but had risen to 56.4 by 2010. The trend toward more births in DC is the opposite of the national decline in the fertility rate, which is largely due to a decrease in births to immigrant women that is linked to the recent recession.

The increases aren’t spread out evenly across the city, though. While wards 4, 7 and 8 currently have the highest number of kids under 18, the growth in those under five was most pronounced in wards 2, 3, 4 and 6; decreases were seen in wards 1, 5, 7, and 8. And while the majority of kids under five are still black, the proportion of kids born to white and Hispanic families has increased at a more steady clip over the last decade.

Still, as we recently wrote, plenty more kids will be coming from residents in wards 1 and 2 over the next decade. According to Census data provided by the D.C. Office of Planning, residents of wards 1 and 2 will be busy getting it on over the next few years: the number of school-aged children in Ward 1 will jump by 62 percent between 2015 and 2020, while in Ward 2 it will increase by 69 percent. Ward 6 comes in third at 48 percent, followed by Ward 5 at 32 percent, Ward 4 at 29 percent, Ward 8 at 22 percent, and Ward 3 at 20 percent. Only Ward 7 will lose school-aged children, with a decrease of 21 percent between 2010 and 2015 and a 19 percent increase between 2015 and 2020.

Given the dynamics over the past decade and those yet to come, the report says that D.C. has to more adequately prepare for the influx of little ones by ensuring that neighborhoods have access to amenities like playgrounds and necessities like affordable child care and good schools.

*DCist can neither confirm nor deny the presence of snotty noses on all five-year-olds.

Under 5 Snapshot