What's behind the spike in child poverty in the U.S.?

THE NUMBER OF CHILDREN LIVING IN POVERTY IN the U.S. more than doubled in 2022, according to new figures released by the U.S. Census Bureau on Sept. 12, the biggest increase since it began using its current method to count them. In 2021, 5.2% of children were living in poverty.

- BELINDA LUSCOMBE

In 2022 that figure was 12.4%, or about 9 million children. This hike was part of a wider rise in poverty recorded by the Census, some of which can be attributed to inflation. But advocates for children say the leap was particularly stark for kids-and was avoidable.

A rise in the number of impoverished children had been expected, because of the expiration of the enhanced version of the Child Tax Credit program (CTC) that Congress instituted in July 2021 during the pandemic. The expanded CTC gave parents a historically high yearly tax credit of up to $3,600 per child, depending on age, which did not have to be paid back if their tax bill didn't reach a certain amount.

Those credits, along with bumps in other government benefits, sent child poverty to a historic low in 2021. Now the rates have rebounded. "Our childpoverty rates are back to their 2019 B RE level," said the U.S. Census Bureau's Liana Fox in a conference call announcing the new figures. "That Child Tax Credit making it fully refundable, expanding it to all individuals had a substantial decrease in child poverty"