American Child Poverty Rate - 1 in 5

Child poverty rate hits 20 percent in US. There has been a "significant decline" in economic well-being for low-income children and families over the past decade as the official child poverty rate grew by 18 percent and poverty levels for families with children increased in 38 states, according to a new study. Economic recession and housing foreclosures are among the major reasons, wiping out earlier gains. Laura Speer, associate director for policy reform and data at the Casey Foundation, said in the report . “Nearly 8 million children lived with at least one parent who was actively seeking employment but was unemployed in 2010. This is double the number in 2007, just three years earlier.”

15 million children live in poverty but a broader definition of economic straits – $43,512 a year, or twice the federal poverty line for a family of four, “a minimum needed for most families to make ends meet,” would make it 31 million children, or 42 percent of the total.