Twenty-Two Percent of American Kids Living in Poverty in 2013

Jul 21, 2015 11:03 AM EDT

A child accompanies his grandmother choosing free groceries at a food pantry run by the Food Bank For New York City. The food bank distributes dry, canned and fresh food to needy residents and works with community based member programs to provide some 400,000 free meals per day throughout New York City. (Photo by John Moore/Getty Images)

If you think American children are living better lives compared with their counterparts in other first world nations, think again. A recent study showed that more children in the United States are living in poverty than in 2008, when the world was under recession.

According to a new report released by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, a child advocacy group, 22 percent of children in the United states were living in poverty in 2013.

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That figure was higher than the 18 percent registered during the Great Recession of 2008.

The report, which was compiled in the latest Kids Count Data Book, added that the problem of poverty among children was most severe in the South and Southwest part of the country.

The prevalence of poverty among African-Americans and American Indians was also nearly double during the reported period.

According to the Miami Herald, the report underlined some slight improvement, which included the all-time high high school graduation rates and the decreasing number of uninsured children.

However, the positive points were not enough to paint a beautiful picture for many of American children.

Among the notable findings that were included in the report were the fact that more kids were raised by single parents in 2013 from five years ago.

More American children were also reportedly living with parents that did not have secure employment.

The report was based on the study of 16 different measures that explore economic well-being, family and community issues, education and health care.

Patrick McCarthy, the foundation's president, was also quoted in the news as saying that the number of kids living in poor communities increased in 2013.

These kids, he said, were more likely to remain poor, less likely to get work, and more likely to get into trouble.

The report added that 1 in 3 Mississippi children live in poverty while 15 percent of children in Nevada did not have health insurance. In Massachusetts, which is America's best place for children, only two percent of its kids do not have health insurance.

TagsPoverty, children, American Children