Children in Poverty Racial Disparity

Children in Poverty Racial Disparity in United States

United States

Large and persistent disparities exist in the proportion of children living in poverty by race and ethnicity. Families with incomes below the federal poverty level may struggle to consistently meet the basic needs of their children. Exposure to chronic stress associated with poverty, including unreliable access to food, health care and stable housing, may impair childhood development and lead to long-term adverse health outcomes at any stage of life:  

• Birth: Mothers living in low-income neighborhoods are more likely to give birth prematurely and have low birthweight babies.
• Childhood: Obesity, asthma and emergency room visits are more common among children living in poverty compared with those not living in poverty. Impoverished and low-income children often have greater need for health services, particularly for mental health.
• Adolescence: As impoverished children grow up, they are more likely to engage in risky or unhealthy behaviors, such as smoking cigarettes, and less likely to complete high school.
• Adulthood: Obesity, risk factors for cardiovascular disease, metabolic syndrome and premature mortality are all associated with low socioeconomic status during childhood. Childhood poverty has also been linked to difficulty with emotional regulation that lasts into adulthood regardless of changes in income status, and is associated with development of physical and mental health issues later in life.

Living in poverty can negatively affect a child’s ability to succeed in school and their future earnings. One estimate of the annual societal costs of childhood poverty in the United States, including lost potential earnings and costs of poor health, came out to $1.03 trillion.

Poverty is a fundamental cause of health disparities. The prevalence of poverty is higher among:

• Black and American Indian/Alaska Native children, who have a prevalence 3 times higher than that of Asian children and 2 times higher than that of white children. Black and American Indian children are 7 times more likely to live in high-poverty, low-opportunity neighborhoods than white children; Latino children are 5 times more likely. 
• Children of single mothers compared with children who live in two-parent households or in single-father households.  
• Children ages 0-5 compared with older children across all racial and ethnic groups.

Recent innovations to mitigate the adverse effects of childhood poverty utilize the two-generation approach, which promotes family resilience by combining support and education programs for parents with early childhood intervention programs into a stronger, whole family experience.

Many government programs and community interventions exist to help reduce the number of children in poverty and support low-income families:

• The earned income tax credit (EITC), the largest U.S. poverty-alleviation program, provides a tax credit to employed families and individuals living in poverty. Research shows the benefits of the program include decreased prevalence of low birthweight and preterm birth and increases in breastfeeding. One study calculated that an annual $3,000 from the EITC for a family with a child under 5 will result in an average 19% increase in future earnings for the child.
• The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), previously known as food stamps, provides nutrition benefits to families in need.
• The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) provides food and nutritional support specifically for pregnant and postpartum women and children. The WIC program has been associated with a lower prevalence of low birthweight, with greater gains among women with low education.
• Child First is a comprehensive program that provides financial, housing and food assistance and early childhood interventions for low-income families. 
• Medicaid provides health care to low-income adults, pregnant women and children.
• Universal basic income programs can provide those living in poverty with regular cash transfers to meet basic needs regardless of employment status, age or other restrictive conditions.

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine proposed four policy packages that would reduce child poverty by 24%-52% while using existing policy options to maximize effectiveness.

While not specific to children, reducing the percentage of the population living in poverty is a Healthy People 2030 economic stability objective.

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