Recession Increases Number of Children in Low-Income Families

Posted by on September 05, 2011

One in five

A national study on child wellbeing from the Annie E. Casey Foundation finds that child poverty increased in 38 states from 2000 to 2009, according to the Associated Press. Nearly 15 million children — 20 percent of the child population — were poor in 2009, a 2.5 million increase from 2000. Researchers found Nevada to have the highest rate of children with unemployed and underemployed parents. The state also has the most children affected by foreclosures — 13 percent of all Nevadan babies, toddlers, and teenagers have been evicted due to unpaid mortgages. In the two decades since researchers began compiling the annual report, infant mortalities, child and teen deaths, and high school dropout rates have declined, but the number of unhealthy babies has increased, and far more children live in low-income families. Programs such as food stamps, unemployment insurance, and foreclosure meditation have been “a dam against the flood of poverty,” but that assistance is threatened by federal and state budget cuts. Mississippi has the most children living in poverty, 31 percent; New Hampshire had the fewest at 11 percent. The federal poverty level this year is $22,350 a year for a family of four.

http://datacenter.kidscount.org/databook/2011/