Among developed countries, United States ranks second worst in childhood poverty
Jul 2, 2012, 5:24 PM
The United States has the second-highest rate of
childhood poverty in the developed world, according to an
International
Business Times article by Ashley Portero.
This alarming fact comes in the wake of a new report from
the United Nations Children’s Fund, which found that out
of the 35 wealthiest countries analyzed by UNICEF, only
one, Romania, had a child poverty rate above the 23
percent rate recorded in the United States, according to
the article.
The United States ranks second on the scale of what
economists call “relative child poverty”, which refers to
a child living in a household where the disposable income
is less than half of the national median income, according
to a Huffington
Post article by Saki Knafo.
Many experts have opinions as to why the United States
ranks so high. Sheldon Danziger is quoted in the
Huffington Post article as saying, “Basically other
countries do more. They tend to have minimum wages that
are higher than ours. The children would be covered
universally by health insurance. Other countries provide
more child care.”
Child poverty in the developed world is more of an issue
than many people realize, and the effects can be seen even
more starkly when examining minority populations.
“Child poverty in the United States has been increasing at
an alarming rate in recent years, accelerated by the
economic crisis that began in 2008. While recent U.S.
Census Bureau statistics place the percentage of American
children living in poverty at 21.6 percent, that figure
soars to nearly one in three for Hispanic children and a
staggering 38.2 percent for African-American children,”
according to a Yahoo News article by Brett Wilkins.
Poverty, particularly childhood poverty, is an issue that
our country must recognize and face in order to continue
on a path of improving the overall health of Americans.
Quoting a November 2011 Census Bureau report on child
poverty Brett Wilkins writes, “Poverty is a critical
indicator of the well-being of our nation’s children,”
“Children who live in poverty, especially young children,
are more likely than their peers to have cognitive and
behavioral difficulties, to complete fewer years of
education, and, as they grow up, to experience more years
of unemployment.”
