Report: 3 Million More Children in Poverty Under Obama

The poverty rate for children in America has risen 22 percent under the Obama presidency – a total of 3 million more, according to the 2015 "Kids Count" report from the Annie E. Casey Foundation.

The number of children in poverty was 18 percent in 2008, the year Obama was elected, and had risen to 22 percent by 2013. The rate did decline from 2012 to 2013 as the economy improved.

The survey found vast differences in the rate of poverty ranging from a low of 10 percent in New Hampshire to a high of 34 percent in Mississippi. Overall, New England and the Upper Midwest had the lowest rates, while the Southeast and Southwest were highest.

African-American children had the highest rate of poverty at 39 percent, which was more than double the rate for non-Hispanic whites at 14 percent.

Not having at least one parent working full time year-round was a major contributor to poverty, the report showed, and that number climbed by almost 2.7 million between 2008 and 2013.

"Roughly half of all American Indian children (50 percent) and African-American children (48 percent) had no parent with full-time, year-round employment in 2013, compared with 37 percent of Latino children, 24 percent of non-Hispanic white children and 23 percent of Asian and Pacific Islander children," the report said.

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