With the percentage of children living below the poverty line in both Japan and the United States at an all-time high, the implications for schools are unavoidable. Yet before jumping to the conclusion that all is lost, reformers need to take a closer look at how the problem is measured.
According to the Health, Labor and Welfare Ministry, the relative childhood poverty rate in Japan has increased from 10.9 percent in 1985 to 16.3 percent in 2012. That means roughly one of every six children come from households with half the median income of the total population. It places Japan in the bottom third of the 34 countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
In the U.S., the child poverty rate is 19.7 percent. That means 10.9 million — almost a fifth of the nation's children — are growing up in households that are living hand-to-mouth. The rising poverty rate affects every racial group: 39 percent of blacks, 36 percent of Native Americans, 32 percent of Hispanics, and 13 percent of Asians and whites.