FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - August 30, 2007
Contact:
Sue Lin Chong / (410) 223-2836 / media@aecf.org
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New State-Level Child Poverty Rates and Rankings Now Available on KIDS COUNT Website
The Annie E. Casey Foundation’s KIDS COUNT online data system has been updated to include income, earnings, and poverty data from the 2006 American Community Survey (ACS) that was released this week by the U.S. Census Bureau. KIDS COUNT also features state-level child poverty rankings that are not currently available on the U.S. Census Bureau’s website.
The 2006 ACS data show a slight drop in the child poverty rate overall since 2005 (from 19 percent to 18 percent) but this rate is still higher than the rate in 2000 (17 percent). There are currently 13 million children in poverty overall in the United States. The KIDS COUNT analysis of the ACS data shows that there continues to be wide variation in child poverty rates across the states. Mississippi, the state with the highest rate of children in poverty, has a rate three times that of the two lowest states, Maryland and New Hampshire.
The 2006 poverty threshold for a family of two adults and two children was $20,444. The Casey Foundation believes that child poverty rates underestimate what it takes to raise a child, and that families actually need about twice the federal poverty threshold to provide for their children. In an Op-Ed published in Wednesday’s Washington Times, Casey Foundation President Douglas W. Nelson states that “adopting a new poverty measure would provide a more realistic assessment of families’ genuine economic needs and circumstances.” The National Academy of Sciences, for example, has developed a new threshold, that, unlike the current measure, includes non-cash benefits, accounts for child care costs and out-of-pocket medical expenses, and adjusts for regional differences in the cost of living.
To get maps and graphs of these data findings and other information on child poverty, as well as 100 other statelevel indicators of child well being, go to www.aecf.org/kidscount/sld. The KIDS COUNT online data system allows users to quickly and easily create national, state, and community-level graphs, charts, and maps for use in articles, issue briefs, and presentations. The updates for the KIDS COUNT online data system were compiled by the Annie E. Casey Foundation and the Population Reference Bureau.
The Annie E. Casey Foundation is a private charitable organization, whose primary mission is to foster public policies, human-service reforms, and community supports that more effectively meet the needs of today’s vulnerable children and families. For more information, visit www.aecf.org.
The Population Reference Bureau informs people around the world about population, health, and the environment, and empowers them to use that information to advance the well-being of current and future generations. For more information, visit www.prb.org.
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