looking through the UNICEF report card and trying to feel a little better about my country...
It's not working terribly well, but something did catch my eye. In the first section of the report card is this statement:
"Variations between countries in the proportion of children growing up
in lone-parent families do not explain national poverty rates. Sweden,
for example, has a higher proportion of its children living in loneparent
families than the United States or the United Kingdom but a
much lower child poverty rate than either."
Yet, when you reach the section on family relations et al, figure 4.1a shows that somewhere around 21% of kids from the sample live in single parent families in the States, roughly 17% in the UK, and Sweden at nearly 17% as well (though lower than the UK).
Am I reading something wrong, or does that look messed up to anyone else? And yes, I am looking at Report Card 7, released in 2007. All facts listed are from the same document.
Find it here: http://www.unicef-icdc.org/presscentre/presskit/reportcard7/rc7_eng.pdf
"Variations between countries in the proportion of children growing up
in lone-parent families do not explain national poverty rates. Sweden,
for example, has a higher proportion of its children living in loneparent
families than the United States or the United Kingdom but a
much lower child poverty rate than either."
Yet, when you reach the section on family relations et al, figure 4.1a shows that somewhere around 21% of kids from the sample live in single parent families in the States, roughly 17% in the UK, and Sweden at nearly 17% as well (though lower than the UK).
Am I reading something wrong, or does that look messed up to anyone else? And yes, I am looking at Report Card 7, released in 2007. All facts listed are from the same document.
Find it here: http://www.unicef-icdc.org/presscentre/presskit/reportcard7/rc7_eng.pdf