The Children of America Living in Poverty

Poverty in America is an epidemic affecting millions of people, including innocent and helpless children. According to statistics, some eleven million children are living in poverty right now. All people under the age of eighteen are counted as children. Although children must live with the hardships and consequences of their poverty, they have no authority or ability to change their situation. Adequate assistance does not exist to help these voiceless victims. More needs to be done to alleviate the problem before the epidemic expands to affect even more children. (Child Poverty, 2024)
Mollie Orshansky created the poverty line, a level of income an individual or family must attain to provide the basic necessities to live. In 1964, 30 million people in this country lived below the poverty line with 5.7 million being children. In contrast, today 41 million people live in poverty including 11 million children.
(History of Poverty Thresholds, 2024). Demographics indicate that children living in the southern part of the United States are much more likely to live in poverty. Racial bias, politics, and employment opportunities for adults, all contribute to amplifying the poverty issues of southern children. (Why is the American South Poorer? 2024).
As the poverty rate increases, we as a country have failed to find a way to help those in need, especially children.
According to the federal government, as of January 2024, in the continental United States, the poverty level was an income of $31,200 or less for a nuclear family of four. (Federal Poverty Level, 2024). Looking at the basic familial budget for a family of four in 2024, the psychological and physical issues seen more frequently in children living below the poverty line become more evident and understandable.
Currently, in the United States, the average household rent is $1,326 per month, with some cities, such as New York City, reaching a total of $4,300 a month (Average Rent by State, 2024). The average cost of groceries for a typical family of four is comparable, ranging from $976 to $1,576 per month (Gaines, 2024). Electricity costs an average of $400 per month. (What is the Average Utility Bill per Month & Year? 2024). Added together, rent, groceries and electricity can cost an average of $2,702 to $6,726. Yearly costs for an average family can range from $32,424 to $80,712 depending upon the family’s geographic location. These basic necessities are unattainable for many living below the poverty level. In addition, these totals do not include other expenses such as gasoline, insurance (both health and vehicle), phone bills or contingencies for emergencies such as home repairs or unexpected accidents.
Living in poverty can adversely affect children both psychologically and physically. Households living below the poverty level often find housing in lower class neighborhoods where crime and violence are prevalent. Children living in these neighborhoods are often victims of, or at least witnesses to, these crimes, thus affecting their sense of safety and security. Prolonged exposure to crime can affect a child mentally, since the child can become desensitized and eventually become a part of the crime problem. Often children of low-income families become “latch-key” children, because adult members of the household are working when the child returns home from school, thus leaving the child unsupervised. According to a report in 2018, 1 in 5, or roughly 22%, of the children who live in poverty suffer from a mental, behavioral, or developmental disorder, that can be clearly attributed to their childhood environment. (Hodgkinson, 2017). Some of these disorders include attention deficit hyperactivity, anxiety, depression, and a multitude of other issues. (Hodgkinson, 2017).
Another struggle for children living in poverty is education. Often schools in lower class neighborhoods are victims of crime themselves, struggle to attract certified teachers and are underfunded. Educational materials may be scarce and the materials and resources available may not be current. All these issues cause children living in poverty to miss opportunities for a solid educational foundation. This lack of education often causes students to leave school prior to graduating from high school. If the student completes high school, post-secondary education is often unattainable.
Unfortunately, all these numbers keep increasing every year. Unless we as a nation offer more assistance, these numbers are going to continue their upward trend. Although they vary in different areas of the country, resources are available to help those living below the poverty level including shelters, sections 8 housing, food banks, food stamps, soup kitchens where hot meals are provided free of charge, and tax breaks. (Poverty and Child Health: Resources for Families, 2024). Although these resources are available, families are still struggling to survive, so we as a nation must offer more resources and assistance.
The best course of action is for the United States to look at other countries who are succeeding or excelling in the treatment of these issues, then apply those findings to help citizens struggling with poverty in the United States.
According to a study done by World Bank, Iceland had a reported poverty rate of 4.9%, and at one moment in the year 2017, Iceland’s poverty rate was even listed at zero! (Iceland, 2024) In order to achieve a poverty rate of zero, Iceland has increased spending on healthcare and education. In addition, payments have either been rescheduled or frozen for households who find themselves in need of financial assistance. Iceland has also provided free housing, lowered income tax rates for poverty-stricken families while raising the income tax rates for higher earning citizens, provided social services, and established welfare centers. Women and youth employment is encouraged, thus incentivizing completion of education. (Iceland OECD, 2024).
In 2024, Taiwan was rated the number one country in the world by providing adequate healthcare and healthcare systems to its citizens. (Wu, 2010). According to the National Institutes of Health, the implementation of the NIH system in Taiwan, which uses a one single insurer system creates the lowest administrative costs in the world. This low cost lowers the cost of healthcare spending to less than 2% of Gross Domestic Product (Wu, 2010). The NIH system covers basic healthcare services such as doctor visits, hospital stays, mental health, and dental services (Wu, 2010). NIH also covers things above and beyond basic healthcare, such as rehabilitation services and home nursing care (Wu, 2010).
One of the highest-ranking countries in the world for adequately education children is South Korea. (Healthcare, 2023). The South Korean government spends about 5.4% of their Gross Domestic Product on educating Korean children. This amount is above the money South Korean government spends on OECD (The Organization for Economic Co-operation. (Healthcare, 2023). Teachers in Korea are treated as very valuable professionals; therefore, teachers are paid more than teachers in many other countries. (Healthcare, 2023). Since teachers are so highly regarded and well compensated in Korea, teachers are motivated to be effective educators and to teach beyond the expected level, thus offering a quality education to more students.
The United States is considered to be one of the wealthiest countries in the world. If we as a nation implemented just these three systems from Iceland, Taiwan and South Korea, the poverty level in our country could be drastically and dramatically lowered. Lowering the poverty rate would positively affect the lives of millions of children. People struggling to survive because they are struggling to obtain or simply cannot obtain those basic necessities to live is an attack on humanity in and of itself.
Luxuries are understandably harder to obtain and are not necessary to live. However, things such as adequate housing, healthcare, and education, should be available to every United States citizen, especially innocent and helpless children, who do not have the ability to provide for themselves. Until our country provides necessary help for struggling citizens, low-income children and their families will continue to endure the hardships placed upon them by society.