How many children live in poverty? According to a report by the U.S. Census Bureau, there are 13.3 million below the age of 18 (for the year of 2007). That’s 1/2 million more than in the previous year. 18% of the population below the age of 18 live in poverty compared to 12.5% of the rest of the population.
Among African-American children, nearly 40% of them lived below the poverty line compared with 28.6% of Hispanics, 14.95 of Whites, and 11.9% of Asians.
We know that poor -low income – students drop out at a far higher rate than any other group.
Nearly 9 million children live in families that lack health care. This data was before the increased cost of gasoline, company layoffs and the mortgage crisis.
The Census Report is available at www.census.gov/prod/2008pubs/p60-235.pdf