In 2023, about 15.3 percent of children under 18-years-old were living below the poverty line in the United States, significantly lower than 1990. While still high, the rate has seen a general decline throughout the last decade. Historic lows were recorded in 2019 when the child poverty rate was 14.4 percent.

Among the OECD countries, Costa Rica had the highest share of children living in poverty, reaching 28.5 percent in 2022. Türkiye followed with a share of 22 percent of children living in poverty, while 20.5 percent of children in Spain, Chile, and the United States did the same. On the other hand, only three percent of children in Finland were living in poverty.

Graph and download economic data for Estimated Percent of People of All Ages in Poverty for United States (PPAAUS00000A156NCEN) from 1989 to 2023 about percent, child, poverty, and USA.

In 2023, Wildwood-The Villages metropolitan area in Florida was ranked first, with 39.3 percent of its population aged under 18 years living below the poverty level. McAllen-Edinburg-Mission metro area in Texas had the second-highest rate of child poverty in the nation.

The Census Bureau determines that a person is living in poverty when his or her total household income compared with the size and composition of the household is below the poverty threshold. The Census Bureau uses the federal government's official definition of poverty to determine the poverty threshold. Beginning in 2000, individuals were presented with the option to select one or more races. In addition, the Census asked individuals to identify their race separately from identifying their Hispanic origin. The Census has published individual tables for the races and ethnicities provided as supplemental information to the main table that does not dissaggregate by race or ethnicity. Race categories include the following - White, Black or African American, American Indian or Alaska Native, Asian, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander, Some other race, and Two or more races. We are not including specific combinations of two or more races as the counts of these combinations are small. Ethnic categories include - Hispanic or Latino and White Non-Hispanic. This data comes from the American Community Survey (ACS) 5-Year estimates, table B17001. The ACS collects these data from a sample of households on a rolling monthly basis. ACS aggregates samples into one-, three-, or five-year periods. CTdata.org generally carries the five-year datasets, as they are considered to be the most accurate, especially for geographic areas that are the size of a county or smaller.Poverty status determined is the denominator for the poverty rate. It is the population for which poverty status was determined so when poverty is calculated they exclude institutionalized people, people in military group quarters, people in college dormitories, and unrelated individuals under 15 years of age.Below poverty level are households as determined by the thresholds based on the criteria of looking at household size, Below poverty level are households as determined by the thresholds based on the criteria of looking at household size, number of children, and age of householder.number of children, and age of householder.

The rate of poverty among children is an indicator of income poverty. There has a been an increase in the rate of children at risk of poverty in Germany from 2020 to 2023, it currently lies at almost 21 percent.

Official Statistics of the number and proportions of children in poverty. Various poverty measures and breakdowns are available.

This table contains data on the percentage of the total population living below 200% of the Federal Poverty Level (FPL), and the percentage of children living below 200% FPL for California, its regions, counties, cities, towns, public use microdata areas, and census tracts. Data for time periods 2011-2015 (overall poverty) and 2012-2016 (child poverty) and with race/ethnicity stratification is included in the table. The poverty rate table is part of a series of indicators in the Healthy Communities Data and Indicators Project of the Office of Health Equity. Poverty is an important social determinant of health (see http://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topicsobjectives2020/overview.aspx?topicid=39) that can impact people’s access to basic necessities (housing, food, education, jobs, and transportation), and is associated with higher incidence and prevalence of illness, and with reduced access to quality health care. More information on the data table and a data dictionary can be found in the About/Attachments section.

The Federal Poverty Level (FPL) is a measure of poverty issued every year by the US Department of Health and Human Services. The 2022 FPL thresholds for a family of four correspond to annual incomes of $27,750 (100% FPL), $55,500 (200% FPL), and $83,250 (300% FPL).The Federal Poverty Level is used to determine eligibility for certain programs and benefits. Across the US, including in Los Angeles County, children represent the largest age group of individuals experiencing poverty. While poverty exerts negative impacts across the lifespan, childhood poverty is of particular concern. Children living in poverty are not only at higher risk for developmental delays, chronic illness, lead exposure, and food and housing insecurity, but they are also more likely to experience poverty into adulthood, which perpetuates generational cycles of poverty.For more information about the Community Health Profiles Data Initiative, please see the initiative homepage.

Graph and download economic data for Estimated Percent of People of All Ages in Poverty for Colorado (PPAACO08000A156NCEN) from 1989 to 2023 about CO, percent, child, poverty, and USA.

Graph and download economic data for Estimated Percent of Related Children Age 5-17 in Families in Poverty for United States (PP5T17US00000A156NCEN) from 1989 to 2023 about 5 to 17 years, family, percent, child, poverty, and USA.

In 2018, the child poverty rate in Japan was 13.5 percent. The child poverty rate was at its lowest in 1994 with 12.2 percent. Figures peaked in 2012, with 16.3 percent, but more recent numbers indicate a downward trend of child poverty in Japan.

Office of Child Support Enforecment (OCSE) Story Behind the Numbers - Child Support Fact Sheet #3. This fact sheet focuses on data reported in a recent U.S. Census Bureau report, Custodial Mothers and Fathers and Their Child Support: 2011. The data reported are estimated based on a biennial survey of custodial parents, the Child Support Supplement to the Current Population Survey, March/April 2012, co-sponsored by the Office of Child Support Enforcement. The proportion of custodial parents living below poverty line continues to increase in 2011. The report found that 4.2 million custodial parents lived in poverty in 2011, representing 29 percent of all custodial parents, about twice the poverty rate for the total population. These statistics reinforce the essential role that child support services can play in helping low-income families, especially during an economic downturn.

Child Poverty Statistics - National Indicator 116: The proportion of children living in families in receipt of out of work benefits or tax credits where their reported income is less than 60% median income.

Abstract copyright UK Data Service and data collection copyright owner.

The Young Lives survey is an innovative long-term project investigating the changing nature of childhood poverty in four developing countries. The study is being conducted in Ethiopia, India, Peru and Vietnam and has tracked the lives of 12,000 children over a 20-year period, through 5 (in-person) survey rounds (Round 1-5) and, with the latest survey round (Round 6) conducted over the phone in 2020 and 2021 as part of the Listening to Young Lives at Work: COVID-19 Phone Survey.
Round 1 of Young Lives surveyed two groups of children in each country, at 1 year old and 5 years old. Round 2 returned to the same children who were then aged 5 and 12 years old. Round 3 surveyed the same children again at aged 7-8 years and 14-15 years, Round 4 surveyed them at 12 and 19 years old, and Round 5 surveyed them at 15 and 22 years old. Thus the younger children are being tracked from infancy to their mid-teens and the older children through into adulthood, when some will become parents themselves.

The 2020 phone survey consists of three phone calls (Call 1 administered in June-July 2020; Call 2 in August-October 2020 and Call 3 in November-December 2020) and the 2021 phone survey consists of two additional phone calls (Call 4 in August 2021 and Call 5 in October-December 2021) The calls took place with each Young Lives respondent, across both the younger and older cohort, and in all four study countries (reaching an estimated total of around 11,000 young people).
The Young Lives survey is carried out by teams of local researchers, supported by the Principal Investigator and Data Manager in each country.

Further information about the survey, including publications, can be downloaded from the Young Lives website.

This study includes data and documentation for Round 1 only. Round 2 is available under SN 6852, Round 3 under SN 6853, Round 4 under SN 7931 and Round 5 under SN 8357.

Latest edition:

For the seventh edition (August 2022), the Peruvian younger cohort data file (pechildlevel1yrold) has been updated to include the care-giver psycho social well-being variables. The erroneous variable SHIGH has been removed from the Peruvian data for both cohorts (pechildlevel1yrold and pechildlevel8yrold).

Main Topics:

This dataset comprises the baseline household surveys for the main sample of 1-year-old and 8-year-old children. For each country, files are included at the community, household and child level for both ages. The household/child level data for the 8-year old children also include information from the child questionnaire. In addition, several files are included at lower levels (i.e. where there are several records per household). These include the household roster and activity schedules for livelihoods.

Topics covered include: community characteristics (environmental, social and economic); household composition; child health; caregiver background; livelihoods; economic changes; socio-economic status; social capital and anthropometry. In addition, the information gathered for younger children also includes details from the caregiver on pregnancy, delivery, breastfeeding, mental health, and child care. Topics specific to the older 8-year-olds survey include child's schooling and work; child mental health (not available for Peru or Ethiopia), and child development.

Also included are calculated indices such as a wealth index, various social capital scores, and mental health scores, which are all detailed in the documentation. The SPSS syntax code and/or Stata 'do' files that show methods of calculation for the composite indices are also included in the dataset.

Standard Measures:
Child development for the 8-year-olds was measured through use of:
Ravens, J.C. (1988) Raven's Coloured Progressive Matrices, Oxford: Harcourt Assessment.

Abstract

Young Lives: An International Study of Childhood Poverty is a collaborative project investigating the changing nature of childhood poverty in selected developing countries. The UK’s Department for International Development (DFID) is funding the first three-year phase of the project.

Young Lives involves collaboration between Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) and the academic sector. In the UK, the project is being run by Save the Children-UK together with an academic consortium that comprises the University of Reading, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, South Bank University, the Institute of Development Studies at Sussex University and the South African Medical Research Council.

The study is being conducted in Ethiopia, India (in Andhra Pradesh), Peru and Vietnam. These countries were selected because they reflect a range of cultural, geographical and social contexts and experience differing issues facing the developing world; high debt burden, emergence from conflict, and vulnerability to environmental conditions such as drought and flood.

Objectives of the study The Young Lives study has three broad objectives: • producing good quality panel data about the changing nature of the lives of children in poverty. • trace linkages between key policy changes and child poverty • informing and responding to the needs of policy makers, planners and other stakeholders There will also be a strong education and media element, both in the countries where the project takes place, and in the UK.

The study takes a broad approach to child poverty, exploring not only household economic indicators such as assets and wealth, but also child centred poverty measures such as the child’s physical and mental health, growth, development and education. These child centred measures are age specific so the information collected by the study will change as the children get older.

Further information about the survey, including publications, can be downloaded from the Young Lives website.

Geographic coverage

Young Lives is an international study of childhood poverty, involving 12,000 children in 4 countries. - Ethiopia (20 communities in Addis Ababa, Amhara, Oromia, and Southern National, Nationalities and People's Regions) - India (20 sites across Andhra Pradesh and Telangana) - Peru (74 communities across Peru) - Vietnam (20 communities in the communes of Lao Cai in the north-west, Hung Yen province in the Red River Delta, the city of Danang on the coast, Phu Yen province from the South Central Coast and Ben Tre province on the Mekong River Delta)

Analysis unit

Individuals; Families/households

Universe

Location of Units of Observation: Cross-national; Subnational Population: Children aged approximately 1 year old and their households, and children aged 8 years old and their households, in Ethiopia, India (Andhra Pradesh), Peru and Vietnam, in 2002. See documentation for details of the exact regions covered in each country.

Kind of data

Sample survey data [ssd]

Sampling procedure

Purposive selection/case studies

A key need for the study's objectives was to obtain data at different levels - the children, their households, the community in which they resided, as well as at regional and national levels. This need thus determined that children should be selected in geographic clusters rather than randomly selected across the country. There was, however, a much more important reason for recruiting children in clusters - the sites are also intended to provide suitable settings for a range of complementary thematic studies. For example, one or a few sites may be used for a qualitative study designed to achieve a deeper level of understanding of some social issues, either because they are important in that particular place, or because the sites are appropriate locales to investigate a more general concern. The quantitative panel study is seen as the foundation upon which a coherent and interesting range of linked studies can be set up.

Thus the design was decided, in each country, comprising 20 geographic clusters with 100 children sampled in each cluster.

For details on sample design, see the methodological document which is available in the documentation.

Sampling deviation

Ethiopia: 1,999 (1-year-olds), 1,000 (8-year-olds); India: 2,011 (1-year-olds), 1,008 (8-year-olds); Peru: 2,052 (1-year-olds), 714 (8-year-olds); Vietnam: 2,000 (1-year-olds), 1,000 (8-year-olds).

Mode of data collection

Face-to-face interview

Research instrument

Every questionnaire used in the study consists of a 'core' element and a country-specific element, which focuses on issues important for that country.

The core element of the questionnaires consists of the following sections: Core 6-17.9 month old household questionnaire • Section 1: Locating information • Section 2: Household composition • Section 3: Pregnancy, delivery and breastfeeding • Section 4: Child care • Section 5: Child health • Section 6: Caregiver background • Section 7: Livelihoods and time allocation • Section 8: Economic changes • Section 9: Socio-economic status • Section 10: Caregiver psychosocial well-being • Section 11: Social capital • Section 12: Tracking details • Section 13: Anthropometry

Core 7.5-8.5 year old household questionnaire • Section 1: Locating information • Section 2: Household composition • Section 3: Births and deaths • Section 4: Child school • Section 5: Child health • Section 6: Caregiver background • Section 7: Livelihoods and time allocation • Section 8: Economic changes • Section 9: Socio-economic status • Section 10: Child mental health • Section 11: Social capital • Section 12: Tracking details • Section 13: Anthropometry

The communnity questionnaire consists of the following sections: • Section 1: Physical environment • Section 2: Social environment • Section 3: Infrastructure and access • Section 4: Economy • Section 5: Health and education

Graph and download economic data for Estimated Percent of People Age 0-17 in Poverty for Los Angeles County, CA (PPU18CA06037A156NCEN) from 1989 to 2023 about Los Angeles County, CA; Los Angeles; under 18 years; CA; percent; child; poverty; and USA.

In 2023, the around 11.1 percent of the population was living below the national poverty line in the United States. Poverty in the United StatesAs shown in the statistic above, the poverty rate among all people living in the United States has shifted within the last 15 years. The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) defines poverty as follows: “Absolute poverty measures poverty in relation to the amount of money necessary to meet basic needs such as food, clothing, and shelter. The concept of absolute poverty is not concerned with broader quality of life issues or with the overall level of inequality in society.” The poverty rate in the United States varies widely across different ethnic groups. American Indians and Alaska Natives are the ethnic group with the most people living in poverty in 2022, with about 25 percent of the population earning an income below the poverty line. In comparison to that, only 8.6 percent of the White (non-Hispanic) population and the Asian population were living below the poverty line in 2022. Children are one of the most poverty endangered population groups in the U.S. between 1990 and 2022. Child poverty peaked in 1993 with 22.7 percent of children living in poverty in that year in the United States. Between 2000 and 2010, the child poverty rate in the United States was increasing every year; however,this rate was down to 15 percent in 2022. The number of people living in poverty in the U.S. varies from state to state. Compared to California, where about 4.44 million people were living in poverty in 2022, the state of Minnesota had about 429,000 people living in poverty.

Graph and download economic data for Estimated Percent of People Age 0-17 in Poverty for St. Louis City, MO (PPU18MO29510A156NCEN) from 1989 to 2023 about St. Louis City, MO; St. Louis; under 18 years; MO; percent; child; poverty; and USA.

Related children of householder under 18 years Poverty Rate Statistics for 2023. This is part of a larger dataset covering poverty in New Rochelle, New York by age, education, race, gender, work experience and more.