POPULATION OF CHILDREN
In 2000, the 86 million children through the age
of 21 in the United States represented 31.2 percent
of the total population, adults aged 22-64 accounted
for 56.2 percent, and persons aged 65 and over represented
12.7 percent of the total population. The median age
in the United States for all races was 35.9.
The number of children under 5 years of age has increased
by 0.5 percent since 1990, while the number of children
ages 5-19 years has increased by 12.4 percent. In
the same period, the number of persons aged 65 and
over has increased 11.8 percent.
CHILDREN OF FOREIGN-BORN PARENTS
Nineteen percent of children in the U.S. have at
least one foreign-born parent: 15 percent were born
in the U.S. and 4 percent were themselves foreign-born.
The proportion of native children of foreign-born
parents living in the United States has increased
25 percent from 1994 and the percentage of foreign-born
children has increased 33 percent in the same time
period. Compared to native born children and parents,
children of foreign-born parents are more likely to
live below 200 percent of the federal poverty level,
are more likely to live in cities, are more likely
to live in two-parent families, and are more likely
to have parents with less than a high school education.
Immigrant children and children of foreign-born parents
face the challenges of acculteration and have health
and psychococial risks at home and at school.
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