As the recession shook Americans’ confidence last year, more than a quarter of Arkansas children — and almost one-fifth of residents — were living in poverty, new census figures show.
Arkansas ranked third in the nation with 26.9 percent of “related children” under 18 who were living in poverty in 2009, according to the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey. “Related children” are tracked through income reported by household heads.
The percentage of Arkansas children living in poverty has risen steadily since 2006, when it was 23.8 percent, the census data show.
