WASHINGTON, March 22 (Xinhua) -- Despite decreasing for the third consecutive year, the U.S. state Kentucky's rate of child abuse victims continues to outpace the national average, according to a recent report.

Kentucky's rate of child abuse victims in 2021 was 14.7 per 1,000 children, according to an article published Tuesday by nortonchildrens.com, which cited the "Child Maltreatment 2021" report recently released by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Children's Bureau.

That means about 15 children out of every 1,000 in Kentucky experienced some form of maltreatment during 2021, said the report on the website.

Kentucky's child abuse victim rate was about twice as high as the U.S. average rate of 8.1 victims per 1,000 children and slightly more than the U.S. state Indiana's rate of 13.6 victims, according to the report.

Most child abuse victims in Kentucky, Indiana and the rest of the United States were younger than one year old, the report said.