Lowest Child Poverty (OECD countries): Number 31
During the pandemic years, the percentage of child poverty declined in the United States and was greatly assisted by the Child Tax Credit. From July through December 2021, the Internal Revenue Service paid Child Tax Credits worth $250 per child (age 6 to 17) and up to $300 per child under the age of 6; a total of 61 million children in 36 million households were assisted. Thus, 3 million children were kept out of poverty in July 2021, climbing up to 3.7 million in December. Thanks to the Child Tax Credit, the poverty rate in 2021 fell to its lowest level ever recorded by the US Census Bureau. But there was a looming expiration date on this successful program.
The expanded Child Tax Credit was scheduled to be continued in the Biden administration’s Build Back Better legislation. The bill passed in the House of Representatives in November 2021, but was blocked in the Senate by the refusal of Democrat Joe Manchin III to agree. Thus, the Child Tax Credit was not renewed. The results were immediate. Child poverty has increased dramatically from 12.1 percent in December 2021 to 17.0 percent in January 2022. Researchers from the Columbia University Center for Poverty and Social Policy note that 3.7 million more children were in poverty in early 2022 due to the ending of the monthly tax credits, and Latino and Black children were hit the hardest. Then came the official numbers from the US Census Bureau: child poverty spiked in 2022, averaging 12.4 percent, up from 5.2 percent in the previous year. “By far this is the largest annual increase in US history for both children and the overall population in terms of poverty, going back to 1967,” said Zachary Parolin at the Columbia University Center for Poverty and Social Policy. Altogether, five million children were affected by the end of the tax credits.
The OECD calculates that the percentage of children living in poverty for Finland is 2.4 percent. Ranking second is Denmark (4.8 percent), third is Iceland (5.4 percent), fourth is Slovenia (5.6 percent), and fifth is the Czech Republic (7.1 percent). The United States ranks 31st with18.8 percent of children living in poverty.
Sources: Zachary Parolin, Sophie Collyer, and Megan A. Curran, “Absence of Monthly Child Tax Credit Leads to 3.7 Million More Children in Poverty in January 2022.” Poverty and Social Policy Brief Vol 6., no. 2. Center on Poverty and Social Policy, Columbia University (February 17, 2022), www.povertycenter.columbia.edu/publication/monthly-poverty-january-2022; Kyle Swenson and Amy Goldstein, “US Poverty Spiked in 2022, Reversing Gains, Census Bureau Data Shows,” Washington Post, September 12, 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2023/09/12/us-poverty-rate-census-uninsured-2022/; “Proportion of Children Living in Poverty in the OECD Countries, 2020, Statista, https://www.statista.com/statistics/264424/child-poverty-in-oecd-countries/; OECD database.
