America has some of the industrial world's worst rates of infant mortality, teenage pregnancy and child poverty, even though it spends more per child than better-performing countries such as Switzerland, Japan and the Netherlands, a new survey indicates.
The OECD, a Paris-based watchdog of industrialized nations, urged the United States to shift more of its public spending to its youngest children, under the age of six, to improve their health and educational performance.
The report released Tuesday, "Doing Better for Children," marks the first time the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has reported on child well-being within its 30 member countries.
The U.S. spends an average of $140,000 per child, well over the OECD average of $125,000. But this spending is skewed heavily toward older children between 12 and 17, the OECD survey showed.
U.S. spending on children under six, a period the OECD says is key to children's future well-being, lags far behind other countries, amounting to only $20,000 per child on average compared to the OECD average of $30,000, the survey showed.
"A better balance of spending between the 'Dora the Explorer' years of early childhood and the teenage 'Facebook' years would help improve the health, education and well-being of all children in the long term," the OECD said.America has some of the industrial world's worst rates of infant mortality, teenage... more
America has some of the industrial world's worst rates of infant mortality, teenage pregnancy and child poverty, even though it spends more per child than better-performing countries such as Switzerland, Japan and the Netherlands, a new survey indicates.
The OECD, a Paris-based watchdog of industrialized nations, urged the United States to shift more of its public spending to its youngest children, under the age of six, to improve their health and educational performance.
The report released Tuesday, "Doing Better for Children," marks the first time the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development has reported on child well-being within its 30 member countries.
The U.S. spends an average of $140,000 per child, well over the OECD average of $125,000. But this spending is skewed heavily toward older children between 12 and 17, the OECD survey showed.
U.S. spending on children under six, a period the OECD says is key to children's future well-being, lags far behind other countries, amounting to only $20,000 per child on average compared to the OECD average of $30,000, the survey showed.
"A better balance of spending between the 'Dora the Explorer' years of early childhood and the teenage 'Facebook' years would help improve the health, education and well-being of all children in the long term," the OECD said.
As a result, it says, infant mortality in the U.S. is the fourth-worst in the OECD after Mexico, Turkey and Slovakia. American 15-year-olds rank seventh from the bottom on the OECD's measure of average educational achievement. Child poverty rates in the U.S. are nearly double the OECD average, at 21.6 percent compared to 12.4 percent.
The rate of teen births in the U.S. is three times the OECD average, with only Mexico recording a higher rate among OECD countries, the report said.
Timothy Smeeding, author of "Poor Kids in a Rich Country: America's Children in Comparative Perspective," said America's troubles stem from a flawed mix of government spending and not enough help for the working poor.
"Most of what we spend is for health care, so there is less money to spend on income support programs, to keep the incomes of the poor up. We do spend highly on education - but it's off the charts on health care," he said by telephone from the United States.
Some European countries have public preschools and day cares, for example.
"The parents in Europe aren't as poor. They have universal health care, and it's understood that you have access to health care without recrimination. ... They have children when they're ready," said Smeeding, who also heads the Institute for Research on Poverty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
"A lot of kids born in our country are accidents," he said. "Young women need to learn to wait to finish their education, not have a kid at 18 or 19. And it is these poor, unwed mothers having most of the babies in the U.S."
Among other OECD countries, France, Germany, Britain and Belgium spend more on their children than the U.S., while Switzerland, Ireland, Australia and Italy spend less, according to the survey.
The countries that spend the most on early childhood include Hungary, Finland and the Slovak Republic, which each devote well over a quarter of all childhood spending to children under the age of six.
Britain also spends more than the OECD average on its children, and like the U.S., devotes most of this spending to its older children between the ages of 12 and 17.
But Britain is plagued by high underage drinking and teenage pregnancy rates. British teen drunkenness, as measured by the number of 13 and 15 year olds having been drunk at least twice, topped the charts at 33 percent, far above the OECD average of 20 percent and the 12 percent rate recorded in the U.S...
America, always at the bottom of the list on everything. It will never change.America has some of the industrial world's worst rates of infant mortality, teenage... more
Thousands of protesters are taking part in what they hope will be Britain's biggest ever march against child poverty.
The Campaign to End Child Poverty rally is calling on the Government to keep its promise of halving child poverty in the UK by 2010.
Supporters are reminding Prime Minister Gordon Brown that he needs to invest an extra £3bn in the 2009 budget to tackle the problem.
The Campaign - a coalition of more than 120 UK organizations - is marching from Trafalgar Square to Westminster in central London.
Campaign director Hilary Fisher said: "Today is an historic day for children across the UK.
"Thousands are to show our Prime Minister how important it is that he listens to our plea not just for a better future for children who are living in poverty but for a better present."
Research published this week by the Campaign found that in 174 of 646 parliamentary constituencies across the UK, more than half the children live in poverty.
It suggested that pockets of the UK were in "turmoil" and millions more children than previously thought were being left behind.
Of the 13,233,320 children in the UK, 5,559,000 - more than a third - live in low-income families or families in poverty.
In his Labour Party Conference speech last month, Mr Brown announced plans for "ground-breaking legislation" to solve the issue by 2020.
At Downing Street today, Mr Brown assured campaigners he would stick to his word.
He said: "One of the great causes of this generation is the eradication of child poverty and I am saying that we will in law make it the duty of Government by 2020 to eradicate child poverty in this country.
"While it is a long haul, we want to show step by step how we can achieve that goal."Thousands of protesters are taking part in what they hope will be Britain's biggest... more
William, 11, sleeps in an alleyway between two shops in Eldoret town of Kenya's Rift Valley Province, in constant fear of being beaten by police and other security agents.
"The thing I fear the most is being beaten," he said. "Secondly is the fear of going without food and clothes.
"The bad thing is that we are always chased and beaten by government and municipal police," said William, who asked IRIN not to use his real name. "Also when we sleep our things can get stolen ... it's not a safe place for us."
As if on cue, a security guard from a nearby shop approached and hit him twice on the back with his wooden truncheon and kicked him. William and his friends scattered and after regrouping, laughed it off.
"I struggle to find food, but there's nothing I can do about the beatings," he said.
Kenya Police spokesman Eric Kiraithe denied claims that officers were among those who beat up the street children. "We are aware there has been an influx of street children in the town since the post-election violence but allegations that police beat up such children are false," he told IRIN.
"When they [the children] breach the law, all we do is arrest them and hand them over to the Children's Department."
****continues, click link to read****William, 11, sleeps in an alleyway between two shops in Eldoret town of Kenya's Rift... more
Poverty is the greatest enemy of civilization. Poverty gives birth to the potential to recruit for and mold any kind of evil. Poverty is the greatest enemy of civilization. Poverty gives birth to the potential to... more
Figures set to be released on Tuesday will demonstrate that the UK government is nowhere near achieving its aim to halve child poverty by 2010. Ministers have insisted the target will not be abandoned. The Child Poverty Action Group estimates the total number of households to be at around 2.9m: the government needs to cut that figure to 1.7m households in 2 years' time if it is to meet its target.
The numbers are expected to show a small rise in the number of children living in poverty, which includes households with an income of 60% or less of UK average earnings. Around £3bn is needed to meet the target.
Nearly 700,000 of the children in poverty are disabled, with six in 10 mothers of disabled children in work.
But polling shows only marginal political support for the idea of eradicating child poverty: 41% of respondents thought there was very little real child poverty in Britain today.Figures set to be released on Tuesday will demonstrate that the UK government is... more
