percentage of american children in poverty
What percentage of American children live in poverty? According to the National Center for Children in Poverty, 16 percent of children (20 percent of children under age six) in America live in poverty. The child poverty rate in America is often two to three times higher than that of other major industrial nations. Poverty is defined as living in families with incomes below the federal poverty line ($21,200 for a family of four in 2008).