Poverty, Children in, and Health Care

According to the U.S. Census, 26% of the U.S. population were children 18 years of age or younger in 2008. More than half of these children are white (56%), 14% are African American, and 22% are Hispanic or Latino; only 3% of them were born outside the United States. Documenting the scope of the problem faced by children who are poor, the Children's Defense Fund found that in 2008 almost one fifth (19.1%) of those 18 years old or younger lived below the federal poverty threshold; almost 1 in 5 children living in the United States is poor. Additionally, another 6.3 million children under the age of 18 were found to be extremely poor (8.5%, or 1 in 12 children) while another 4.7 million were ...