CHILDREN IN POVERTY
In 2002, 12.1 million children under 18 years of age lived in families
with income below the Federal poverty threshold (e.g., $18,392 for
a family of four).1 Children living below the Federal
Poverty Level represented 16.7 percent of children in the U.S.,
a rate that did not change from the previous year. Children represented
35 percent of people in poverty but only 25 percent of the population
as a whole.
Poverty affects living conditions and access to health care and
nutrition, all of which contribute to health status. Black and Hispanic
children were particularly vulnerable. A much higher proportion
of Black (32.1 percent) and Hispanic (28.2 percent) related* children
under age 18 were poor than were related White children (13.1 percent).
Children in single-parent families are particularly likely to
be poor: of children under age 6 living with a single mother, 48.6
percent were in poverty, compared to 9.7 percent of children of
the same age in married-couple families.
*Related children are those under 18 who are related to the householder
by birth, marriage, or adoption.
1 Based on the U.S. Census Bureau’s poverty threshold,
which is calculated using the Consumer Price Index from the previous