UN League Table of Child Poverty in OECD Nations

Almost a quarter of all U.S. children live below the nation’s poverty line. Figures for Italian, UK and Turkish children are similarly dismal: 1 in every 5.

Canadian children are not quite so unlucky (2 of 13) but they run twice the poverty risk of French children (7.7%) and are 5½ times more likely to live in poverty than Swedish children (1 in 38). Ici au Québec c’est pire qu’aux États-Unis: 23.8% des enfants vivent dans la pauvreté, beaucoup plus qu’en d’autres provinces (voir source, p. 3).

According to the UN, nations spending least on social welfare are those with the highest per capita child poverty rate. Those nations are usually also keenest on anti-social neo-liberalism and those who believe most fervently in capitalism: ‘free’ corporate competition rather than freedom from misery.

Personally, I think good conditions for coming generations are preferable to capitalism. That goes for the whole planet’s future too, and for innumerable other things...