A report says that, for the first time, the number of Hispanic children living in poverty was greater than the number of non-Hispanic white children living in poverty last year—a demographic shift that stems from the disproportionate impact of the economic downturn on Hispanic families.
The report this month by the Washington-based Pew Hispanic Center puts the number of poor Hispanic children nationwide at 6.1 million.
The researchers say the change is only partly due to the growing numbers of Hispanics in the United States. Once the recession hit in 2007, the report notes, employment and household wealth dropped more quickly among Hispanic families than it did among whites or African-Americans.
