FastStats: Sleep in Children

Key points

  • The National Survey of Children's Health (NSCH) looks at how much sleep U.S. children get.
  • This page summarizes the most recent data on insufficient sleep among infants and children, ages 4 months to 14 years.
  • The percentage of children who do not get enough sleep varies by age, state, and racial and ethnic group.
Diverse group of six kids piggybacking each other in the park.

The basics

This page covers the latest stats on insufficient sleep among children ages 4 months to 14 years.

For daily recommended hours of sleep for children, see About Sleep. For stats on older children, see FastStats: Sleep in High School Students.

This information is based on the National Survey of Children's Health (NSCH), which asks parents about their children's health.

Survey questions on sleep

Parents taking part in the survey are asked about how much their child sleeps.

Questions include:

  • For infants and children 5 and younger:
    • During the past week, how many hours of sleep did this child get on an average day (including nighttime sleep and naps)?
  • For children and adolescents 6 to 17:
    • During the past week, how many hours of sleep did this child get on an average weeknight?

Children are considered to get insufficient sleep if parents report they get less sleep than the recommended hours for their age.

Quick stats

Insufficient sleep by state, 2020–2021

The percentage of children (aged 4 months to 14 years) not getting enough sleep varies by state. In 2020–2021, insufficient sleep among children ranged from 25% in Minnesota to 50% in Louisiana.

Insufficient sleep among children (aged 4 months to 14 years), 2020–2021

The percentage of children (aged 4 months to 14 years) not getting enough sleep was highest in certain groups, including:

  • Children 4 months to 5 years (37%).
  • Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander children (61%).

Data sources

National Survey of Children's Health (NSCH), 2020–2021

Resources

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Content Source:
National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion
  • Hirshkowitz M, Whiton K, Albert SM, et al. The National Sleep Foundation's sleep time duration recommendations: methodology and results summary. Sleep Health. 2015;1(1):40–43.
  • Paruthi S, Brooks LJ, D'Ambrosio C, et al. Recommended amount of sleep for pediatric populations: a consensus statement of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. J Clin Sleep Med. 2016;12(6):785–786.