STATE OF OPPORTUNITY. Can Kids in Michigan Get Ahead?
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This special reporting project wrapped up in May 2017. Read more.

The gap watch continues: US is 34th of 35 developed nations in child well-being

chart of relative child poverty
UNICEF

Initially, it was darkly funny and absurd: "What's up with all the 'gaps'?," we asked ourselves. Discipline gap. Gender gap. Achievement gap. And now the United Nations Children's Fund is reporting that the US is at the almost-bottom of their index for relative child poverty rates: a child poverty gap.

The report excludes kids from places such as sub-Saharan Africa, so take note of the "relative" aspects of this data. But, still, too many American children are "living in a home that makes 36 percent less than the relative poverty line."

We'll continue our "gap watch," but whatever we call it, we know that any inequality is too much.

 

[WorldView, The Washington Post]

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