Nearly 13 million American children live in families with incomes below $20,000 a year, which is below the federal poverty level for a family of four. Unfortunately, the number of children living in poverty increased by more than 11 percent between 2000 and 2005, meaning an additional 1.3 million children lives in poverty today than in 2000. Furthermore, research has consistently shown that families, on average, need an income of about twice the federal poverty level to make ends meet. And 39 percent of children in the U.S. (or more than 28 million in 2005) live in families with an income below this line. Still. What’s worse is that, according to a recent report from the National Center for Children in Poverty, the current U.S. poverty measure is widely acknowledged to be inadequate, yet the political will necessary to implement an official change is lacking. Data collected in the 1950s indicate that families spent about one-third of their income on food, and poverty is still measured by multiplying food costs by three. However, in present day, food comprises far less than a third of an average family’s expenses as housing, child care, health care and transportation costs have grown disproportionately. Additionally, the poverty measure does not adjust for the substantial variation in the cost of living from state to state and between urban and rural areas. A potential growing problem with the current poverty measure is that eligibility for many public benefits are based on this "official" measure.
To read the NCCP report, click here: http://www.nccp.org/publications/pdf/text_684.pdf
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