Report: Rural Poverty In America Is 'An Emergency'

The United States does not stack up favorably when compared to other nations with advanced economies when it comes to childhood poverty worldwide, according to a new report, which considered factors such as the lack of access to quality food, high adolescent birth rates and a child dropping out of school.

Out of 175 nations, the U.S. ranks 36th – far behind Singapore, Slovenia, Norway, Sweden and Finland, which round out the top five — and just behind Bahrain and Belarus in the report produced by the advocacy group Save the Children.

"We are just above Russia, Kuwait and Bosnia," says president and CEO Carolyn Miles. "So I wouldn't say that the United States is doing terribly well as far as childhoods."

The report looks at so-called childhood enders or "events that rob children of their childhood and prevent them from reaching their full potential," including things like displacement due to war, gender bias, child labor and child mortality.

There are three childhood disruptors that account for why the U.S. ranking is relatively low, says Miles, "One was our infant mortality rate, which is by global standards, pretty high. The second was the teen pregnancy rate, which, although it's getting better in the United States, it's still, again, globally quite high," Miles says.

"And then the third was the number of children that are actually victims of homicide in the United States."

In total, the report estimates more than 1.2 billion children worldwide are at risk of missing out on childhood. 

"The index finds the overall situation for children appears more favorable in 95 of 175 countries." In 40 other countries, however, "conditions appear considerably worse. - Read More, NPR

Report: Rural Poverty In America Is 'An Emergency'