Poor kids in a rich country
US CHILD WELFARE PARIS - America has some of the industrialised world's worst rates of infant mortality , teenage pregnancy and child poverty, even though it spends more per child than better-performing countries such as Switzerland, Japan and the Netherlands, a new survey indicates. In light of this, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), a Paris-based watchdog of industrialised nations, has urged the United States to shift more of its public spending to its youngest children, under the age of six, to improve their health and educational performance. The report released on Tuesday, Doing Better for Children, marks the first time the OECD has reported on child well-being within its 30 member countries. The US spends an average of US$140,000 ($202,000) per child, well over the OECD average of $125,000. But this spending is skewed heavily toward older children between 12 and 17, the OECD survey showed. US spending on children under six, a period the OEC...