NYPD and NYC City Hall Break Kids Hearts

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3. America's children

SOURCE: U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey, Annual Social and Economic Supplements.

In 2009, 21 percent of all children ages 0–17 (15.5 million) lived in poverty. This is up from the low of 16 percent in 2000 and 2001. The poverty rate for all children increased from 18 percent in 2007 to 19 percent in 2008, and then to 21 percent in 2009. This trend is consistent with expectations related to the recent economic downturn.

Among all children, the poverty rate was three times higher for Black children and nearly three times higher for Hispanic children compared with the poverty rate for White, non-Hispanic children.2 In 2009, 36 percent of Black children, 33 percent of Hispanic children, and 12 percent of White, non-Hispanic children lived in poverty. These are increases from 35 percent, 29 percent, and 10 percent, respectively, in 2007.

As was the case for all children, the percentage of related children with family incomes below the poverty threshold was higher in 2009 (20 percent) than in 2008 (19 percent).36 The poverty rate for related children has fluctuated since the early 1980s, reaching a peak of 22 percent in 1993 and a low of 16 percent in 2000.

The poverty rate for related children living in female-householder families (no spouse present) was 44 percent in 2009, an increase from the low of 39 percent in 2001. The poverty rate for related children in married couple families increased from 8 percent to 11 percent over this time period.

Related children ages 0–5 were more likely to be living in families with incomes below the poverty line than those ages 6–17. In 2009, 24 percent of related children ages 0–5 lived in poverty, compared with 18 percent of older related children.

In 2009, 9 percent of related children lived in families with incomes below 50 percent of the poverty level, the highest estimate for related children since 1997.

http://www.childstats.gov/americaschildren/eco1.asp