US Has Second-Highest Rate Of Childhood Poverty In Developed World, Only Romania Is Worse

[woo me with science]

http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/346943/20120530/childhood-poverty-u-s-second-highest-rate.htm

US Has Second-Highest Rate Of Childhood Poverty In Developed World, Only Romania Is Worse

By Ashley Portero
May 30, 2012 12:59 PM EDT

The United States has the second-highest rate of childhood poverty in the developed world, according to a new report from the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), which concluded that nations with comprehensive government programs designed to protect vulnerable children had the lowest rates of child poverty and deprivation.

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 U.S. The rate is based on the definition of relative poverty used by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), which states a child is living in poverty if he or she is growing up in a household where disposable income, when adjusted for family size and compensation, is less than 50 percent of the median disposable income for the country in question.

By this standard, more than 15 percent -- about 30 million -- of the 200 million children across the 35 countries studied are seen to be living in relative poverty.
...
Iceland has the lowest rate of relative childhood poverty in the developed world at 4.7 percent, closely followed by Finland (5.3 percent), Cyprus (6.1 percent), the Netherlands (6.1 percent ), Slovenia (6.3 percent) and Denmark (6.5 percent).
....
There are only two countries where more than 20 percent of children were found to be living in relative poverty: Romania and the United States.

[LongTomH]

1. If the Ryan budget passes, poverty for both children and seniors will skyrocket!

By the way, can we even be considered a "developed nation" anymore?

[jwirr]

2. This is so sad and really proves the statement that this is a race to the bottom.

[xchrom]

3. Romania. I hope people stop & think about that.

Romania is poor. Really poor.

[EFerrari]

4. Romania was one of the countries in that United Way ad from the 60s

where the narrator listed a bunch of Iron Curtain countries while pictures of skinny kids dressed in rags were shown on the screen.

[Odin2005]

6. Don't forget those poor kids in orphanages.

[Diclotican]

8. Odin2005

Odin2005

Who could forget the skinny, often ill kids in orphanages in Romania... Many got a decent life, after the iron curtain ended, and the truth got out - and they got help from abroad... Many in Norway was appealed by it, and was sending a lot of things, medical applications, toys, cloths and so one, to help... Norway even donated a few MASH units to Romania, to help people who needed medical help....

Even though it have been more than 20 year now since we got to know the truth - it is still not exactly good there - a lot of poor people who still will need our help to get up to a level where they them self might be able to go forward.. But a lot of corruptions, and mis managments from the top to the bottom, is doing it a herculean task to get things right...

Diclotican

[truedelphi]

18. When I look at the videos of the neighborhoods in

Cleveland and Cincinnati, where houses are shuttered up and vacant, when I walk through areas here in Lake County where there was very little to see a year ago, which was mainly thrift shops and medical marijuana clinics thriving, and now we are devoid of even the medical marijuana clinics, I just don't know.

How can they deprive people of rebuilding an economy in order to help their friends at Big Pharma? Is this what our legislators and President want for us - vacant store fronts, boarded up houses, people in line by the hundreds for six job openings at WalMart?

[Diclotican]

25. truedelphi

truedelphi

I don't know - but I fear it could be worse, before it will better - when the poor masses get to a critical mass, no police force can contain it - just ask Tsar Nicolai 2 of Imperial Russia 1917.

At least, last time US really had many poor people who was on the verge of having a critical mass - they had a President who wanted to do something with the problem - and maybe even had a little less fanatical republican counterpart to fight to get the work being doing...

Today the republicans are fanatical on a scale never seen before in the US, and they are far more interesting in not letting legislation pass, than to work to mend some of the problems.. Conservatives they are not.... Not even by a long shoot.. They are fanatical in a extreme sense of the word...

Diclotican

[truedelphi]

28. At the time that you refer to, the Thirties, the nation also had

Decent state legislatures. Some thirty five states had laws on the books preventing foreclosures of a residence.

Today that situation is long gone. And last year, the state legislature in California was going to slightly -ever so slightly - modify the banking laws here, and then the lobbyists took hold of the legislators. So that in the end, even the very slight modifications to the banking situation were not offered to the
public.

[Diclotican]

7. xchrom

xchrom

Romania, Bulgaria, and some of the former Soviet union republics is some of the most poor nations in the whole of Europe.... And if US is in some way similar to Romania - then it is absolutely time to reqonice the fact, and do something with it...

Diclotican

[truedelphi]

19. If the President would devote even half the time he devotes to

Approving of the drone operations and killings, to the well being of people in this nation, we would see it turn around quickly.

3,500 well paying jobs lost here in California that were directly tied in to the medical marijuana clinics that Obama's DOJ/IRS has devastated.

And indirectly the monies that are lost tally up far beyond that.

The newspapers are now afraid to advertise to doctors who were connected to the medical marijuana clinics. The local gazette now has to publish verse and quotations in place of where there were ads for the clinics and the doctors. Landlords have vacant business buildings rather than revenue. The loss to the state next year, when it will be apparent how much money this self created industry was producing will become apparent is going to be a hideous loss.

[woo me with science]

11. +1

[Odin2005]

5. We are a 3rd World banana republic.

[woo me with science]

13. America sparkles and shines on corporate TV.

It's surreal, the electronic vision of ourselves that we are fed each day.

That's what I thought of when I read your post....the stunning divide between what we are told we are, and what we really are.

[girl gone mad]

14. Without the bananas..

unless you count Republicans.

[Egalitarian Thug]

9. They had to add Romania to the list of "developed" nations just so there would be

one worse than us. Roadways and functioning electric, food distribution, and sanitation systems would seem to be a minimum requirement.

OTOH, the most primitive tribe in the forest of South America takes better care of its kids, so we don't even rise to that level.

[truedelphi]

29. This video of an Ohio City

Brings me to tears -

&feature=endscreen&NR=1

We once had a vibrant middle and working class. And now we have the closed up buildings, the "Moving" sale signs on many stores. The empty storefronts, the vacant lots.

[nadinbrzezinski]

10. USA, USA, USA

Why do you hate America?

[2on2u]

12. K&R. n/t

[Wind Dancer]

15. It's downright shameful!

[Fresh_Start]

16. Go USA, we are #2...that's why we try harder

and vote in asses like Walker.

[Romulox]

17. This is an absolute disgrace. Shameful. nt

[librechik]

20. Proud of it, Congress wants more.

only when no poor folks exist in the US will they stop trying to exterminate them.

[rurallib]

21. And in Iowa our governor line item vetoed a food bank appropriation.

This after it was passed by being hooked to another bill.
Previously, my representative (ALEC member Tom Sands) sat on another bill for more money as the chair of the house ways & means committee.

Branstad ponies up to the public trough for $180,000/ year in salary AND pension as a former governor. Sands is a local banker who has missed few meals!

[Ilsa]

22. Romania had their own war on women

back in the 1900s when Nikolae Ceauşescu was dictator.
It doesn't surprise me that they are so poor.

What does surprise me is how little the US cares about its poor.

[pampango]

23. Top 14 countries in lowest child poverty are all European (US is 34th).

http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/05/29/491443/un-report-child-poverty/

The per capita income of the US was $48,387 in 2011, while it was $31,607 for the EU. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_(PPP)_per_capita) Despite the US' huge advantage in wealth Europe does much better at reducing child poverty.

[AynRandCollectedSS]

24. When we posted this article...

...a girl on our FB page was actually arguing that since poverty is relative and most middle class families can afford to buy all of their children iPods, poor kids in America are basically fine. Another guy on the thread smugly commented that poor families often have air conditioners and *GASP* TWO TVs. I can't believe the callousness and ignorance of some people.

As one of our members so astutely pointed out, lamenting that kids in American aren't really poor because kids in other countries are poorer is like saying it's okay for your husband to beat you in the U.S. because in other parts of the world women are stoned to death.

[countryjake]

26. K&R!

[deaniac21]

27. I'm moving to Haiti.