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A report by the United Nations Children’s Fund has found that child poverty has risen over the past decade in three-quarters of the 25 richest countries in the world. According to the study, Denmark (2.4 percent) and Finland (2.8 percent) have the lowest levels of child poverty, while the United states (21 percent) and Mexico (27 percent) are at the bottom of the 25 industrialized nations. Only one-third of the countries have made progress against child poverty in the past year, with Britain doing the best job by reducing child poverty by three percent. Germany, where about 10 percent of children (1.5 million) are categorized as poor, has seen a 2.7 percent rise in the past decade. The poverty line for the study was set at about US$10,500 family income per year, which is less than half of the countries’ average national household income. |