According to a Pew Hispanic Center report, poverty among children in the U.S. is now highest in the Latino population.

According to a recent report from the Pew Hispanic Center, poverty among Latino children is at an all time high and, for the first time, has displaced White children as the single largest group of children in poverty:


“More Latino children are living in poverty—6.1 million in 2010—than children of any other racial or ethnic group. This marks the first time in U.S. history that the single largest group of poor children is not white. In 2010, 37.3% of poor children were Latino, 30.5% were white and 26.6% were black.”


Also according to the report, while about two-thirds of the children’s parents immigrated to the United States, an overwhelming majority (86%) of the children were born in America. It seems that this increase, both relative and absolute, is another impact of the Great Recession:


“Prior to the Great Recession, more white children lived in poverty than Hispanic children. However, since 2007, that pattern has reversed. Between 2007 and 2010, an additional 1.6 million Hispanic children lived in poverty, an increase of 36.3%. By contrast, even though the number of white and black children living in poverty also grew, their numbers grew more slowly—up 17.6% and 11.7% respectively.”