About Half of Kids with Single Moms Live in Poverty
Josh Mitchell, Wall Street Journal, November 25, 2013
Children raised in single-parent households in the U.S. are far more likely to live in poverty than children with both parents present, according to Census figures released Monday. As a result, far more black and Hispanic children are raised in poverty than white kids.
Among all children living only with their mother, nearly half — or 45% — live below the poverty line, the Census Bureau said. For those living with just the father, about 21% lived in poverty. By comparison, only about 13% of children with both parents present in the household live below the poverty line.
{snip} About 55% of black children and 31% of Hispanic children live with one parent, compared to 20% of white children and 13% of Asian children.
Other new data released in the report:
– One in four women raising children are doing it on their own. Women are far more likely to be single parents than men, the figures show. Two-thirds, or 67%, of mothers living with their children have a spouse present, compared with 86% of fathers living with their children. One in four mothers with a child under age 18 has no partner present, compared with 6% of fathers.
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–The share of households that are married couples with children has declined by about half, to 19% this year versus 40% in 1970.
– Households also are becoming smaller. On average, 2.5 people share a household currently, compared to 3.1 people in 1970. That’s in part because families are having fewer children. Average children per family fell to 0.9 from 1.3 during that period.
