IS ILLEGITIMACY A PUBLIC-HEALTH HAZARD?

In recent years, the well-being of America’s children has become a topic of intense public discussion. Many authoritative commentators have concluded that childhood has become a time of significant, and increasing, risk in America. Considerable evidence, in fact, has been adduced to make the case that the material condition of America’s children has seriously worsened over the past decade and a half.

The outlines of the problem, as typically presented, are by now familiar. By the reckoning of the U.S. Census Bureau, real per-capita income in the United States rose by more than 25 per cent between 1973 and 1986; yet over those same years the poverty rate for Americans under 18 years of age increased by nearly two-fifths: from just over 14 per cent to almost 20 per cent. While America had four million fewer children in 1986 than in 1973, almost three million more children were estimated to be living in poverty. Between 1973 and 1986, both the child poverty rate and the absolute number of children in poverty rose in all the ethnic categories the Census Bureau delineated (“White,” “Black,” “Spanish origin”); relatively and absolutely, the greatest increase in measured poverty was among “White” children.

About the Author

Nicholas Eberstadt

Mr. Eberstadt holds the Wendt Chair in Political Economy at the American Enterprise Institute. He is a founding member of the U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea.

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In recent years, the well-being of America’s children has become a topic of intense public discussion. Many authoritative commentators have concluded that childhood has become a time of significant, and increasing, risk in America. Considerable evidence, in fact, has been adduced to make the case that the material condition of America’s children has seriously worsened over the past decade and a half.

The outlines of the problem, as typically presented, are by now familiar. By the reckoning of the U.S. Census Bureau, real per-capita income in the United States rose by more than 25 per cent between 1973 and 1986; yet over those same years the poverty rate for Americans under 18 years of age increased by nearly two-fifths: from just over 14 per cent to almost 20 per cent. While America had four million fewer children in 1986 than in 1973, almost three million more children were estimated to be living in poverty. Between 1973 and 1986, both the child poverty rate and the absolute number of children in poverty rose in all the ethnic categories the Census Bureau delineated (“White,” “Black,” “Spanish origin”); relatively and absolutely, the greatest increase in measured poverty was among “White” children.

About the Author

Nicholas Eberstadt

Mr. Eberstadt holds the Wendt Chair in Political Economy at the American Enterprise Institute. He is a founding member of the U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea.