Press Releases

WASHINGTON - For the second year in a row, the number of Americans living in poverty has gone up, according to data released today by the U.S. Census Bureau. More than 12.1 million children lived below the federal poverty line ($14,072 a year for a three-person family) in 2002, up by 400,000 since 2001. This marks a significant increase in the number of poor people under 18, the number of poor children in families and the percentage of poor children in families, according to the Census Bureau's own definitions.

Nearly all of the increases occurred among Black and Latino children. Of the 400,000 additional poor children, 223,000 were Latino. The number of poor Black children rose by more than 153,000. (The exact increase cannot be determined because the federal government altered its definition of Black to permit multiple racial responses.)

"This nation does not have a money problem. It has a values and priorities problem," said Children's Defense Fund President Marian Wright Edelman. "Our children are getting poorer while the Bush Administration and congressional leaders work to dismantle protections for children to pay for a $93,500 tax break to millionaires and consider spending billions to rebuild Iraq."

The amount the President and Congress are requesting to improve Iraqi sewers alone is enough to pay for the Child Tax Credit to help alleviate poverty among the 12 million children in low-income families who were left out of the massive 2003 tax cut law.

Nearly three out of four poor children in America live in working families. Today's data show that a growing proportion of children live in families with unstable jobs or no work at all. In 2002, 20.0 percent of children lived in families with no full-time, year-round worker present, up from 19.2 percent in 2001.

A Children's Defense Fund® analysis last month found that the number of working parents unemployed for longer than 26 weeks doubled from 2001 to 2002 and climbed to 655,000 in June 2003. The rapid rise indicates that the economy continues to worsen for many families with children. The U.S. economy has lost three million jobs since 2000. The Bush Administration's 2003 tax cut law left behind families making the minimum wage, including one million children living in military families, from eligibility for the expanded child tax credit.

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The mission of the Children's Defense Fund is to Leave No Child Behind and to ensure every child a Healthy Start, a Head Start, a Fair Start, a Safe Start, and a Moral Start in life and successful passage to adulthood with the help of caring families and communities. CDF provides a strong, effective voice for all the children of America who cannot vote, lobby, or speak for themselves. We pay particular attention to the needs of poor and minority children and those with disabilities. CDF educates the nation about the needs of children and encourages preventive investment before they get sick, into trouble, drop out of school, or suffer family breakdown. CDF began in 1973 and is a private, nonprofit organization supported by foundation and corporate grants and individual donations. We have never taken government funds.