DES MOINES, Iowa - The numbers from the Census Bureau indicate that no matter what part of the state you look at, poverty is growing, thanks to the recession. The American Community Survey finds more Iowa families in poverty in 2009 than in 2007. Child and Family Policy Center research analyst Anne Discher says Iowa children are taking the brunt of it.
"Children are more likely than individuals in other age groups to be in poverty. Almost 16 percent of Iowa kids in 2009 were in poverty compared with 11.8 percent of adults."
She says these children are future community leaders, so Iowa's prosperity in years to come is being threatened.
"Even if they are only in poverty during the recession, those children as adults they make less money, they have less education and they have poorer health on average than kids who didn't experience that poverty."
The census data also found that children in poverty are almost twice as likely to be without health insurance than children living above the poverty line.
Data at http://census.gov/acs.
