Children in Poverty

CHILDREN IN POVERTY


Poverty among children has a profound impact on their lives. The number of

children that are affected by poverty is staggering. Twenty seven million children live in

poverty and 9 million of them or 40% of them are under the age of six! Another fact is

that 2.1 million children are under the age of three. Even though this number has been

reduced over recent years it is still an unacceptable number. The poverty rate for children

under age three was about 80 percent higher than the rate for adults or the elderly in

2000. Four times as many children live in poverty as the elderly. The poverty rate for

young Black and Hispanic children under age three is still three times higher than that of

White children. In 2000, there were 1,288,000 poor children living in single-parent

families and 751,000 poor children living with married parents. Of all the family groups,

poverty is highest among those with a single woman as...