New Report Reveals Growing Inequality and Economic Hardships for Children in North America
(October 2008) Globalization has contributed to rising incomes in Canada, the United States, and Mexico, but has not improved economic security for vulnerable children across the three countries, according to a new report, Growing Up in North America: The Economic Well-Being of Children in Canada, the United States, and Mexico.
The report finds tremendous differences in the economic well-being of the 120 million children living in North America, but also many shared experiences.
Key Findings
- Rates of child poverty in North America are high compared with other developed countries.
- Child poverty rates are much higher in economically depressed regions, among ethnoracial minorities, and among North America's indigenous communities.
- Food insecurity is a problem across the continent but most notably in Mexico, where one in five households does not have the resources to purchase a safe and healthy diet for their families.
- Many children in the United States and Mexico are forced to go without health care because of low family incomes.
- The high cost of housing is a significant and growing problem for low-income families in Canada and the United States. Concern in Mexico has revolved around basic housing conditions.
- Half of respondents in Canada and the United States and one-third of Mexicans believe that their children will be worse off economically than people are today.
- There is evidence of growing income inequality among families with children in the face of rising national incomes, especially in the United States and Canada. Mexico has made little headway in reducing its very high levels of inequality.
- Canada's public income support system for families is more effective in reducing levels of child poverty than income supports available in the United States or Mexico.
For more information on the Children in North America Project, go to: www.childreninnorthamerica.org.