Some (Very Sobering) Statistics on the Current life of American Children

From Childstats.gov and cited in this morning’s sermon by yours truly:

Sixty-four percent of children ages 0”“17 lived with two married parents in 2012, down from 77 percent in 1980….

The percentage of all births to unmarried women rose from 18 percent of total births in 1980 to 33 percent in 1994. From 1994 to 2002, the percentage ranged from 32 to 34 percent. The percentage increased from 2002 through 2008 and remained stable at 41 percent through 2011.

Between 1980 and 2011, the proportion of births to unmarried women rose for women in all age groups. Among adolescents, the proportion was high throughout the period and rose from 62 to 95 percent for ages 15”“17 and from 40 to 86 percent for ages 18”“19. The proportion more than tripled for births to unmarried women in their twenties, rising from 19 to 64 percent for ages 20”“24 and from 9 to 34 percent for ages 25”“29. The proportion of births to unmarried women in their thirties more than doubled, from 8 to 21 percent.

In 2011, the poverty threshold for a two-parent, two-child family was $22,811.

Twenty-two percent of all children ages 0”“17 (16.1 million) lived in poverty in 2011, which was not statistically different from 2010 but higher than the 16 percent of all children in 2001.

The percentage of children living in families in extreme poverty rose to 10 percent in 1992, decreased to 7 percent in 1999, and was back at 10 percent in 2011.