NEW YORK: Black children in the United States are still poorer than the young in other communities, according to a Pew study released recently.

About 38 per cent of black children live below the poverty line, the study said. They are about four times as likely as white or Asian children to grow up poor.

And for the first time since 1974, there are more poor black children (4.2 million) than poor white children (4.1 million), even though there are three times as many white minors, the study added.

There are even more poor Hispanic children than in any other group (5.4 million,) partly because the Hispanic community is larger and younger than other minority groups. But the data shows a small decline in poverty rates among Hispanic children over the past few years.

Black children are the only group that has not shown a decline in poverty rate since 2010.

Published in Dawn, July 22th, 2015

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