Increase government spending on youngest children: OECD
Last Updated: Tuesday, September 1, 2009 | 8:52 PM ET
CBC News
The United States is among the industrialized world's worst victims of infant mortality, teenage pregnancy and child poverty even though it spends more per child than better-performing countries, a report released Tuesday says.
The report by the Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development — the Paris-based 30-member group of industrialized nations — urges the U.S. and other countries to shift more of public spending to their youngest children.
The report, "Doing Better for Children," said the United States spends $20,000 US on children up to age six, compared with an OECD average of $30,000 US.
However, total public spending on children in the U.S., at $140,000 US, is higher than the OECD average of just over $125,000 US.
Despite the higher spending, American children do less well in areas such as health and education than their peers in most other countries, the report found.
Canada received generally solid marks — especially for educational outcomes — but the study noted that Canada's child poverty rates are at the higher end of the OECD's member countries.
The group encouraged governments to spend more on children in the first six years of their lives.
"Spending early — when the foundations for a child’s future are laid — is key, especially for disadvantaged children and can help them break out of a family cycle of poverty and social exclusion," OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría said.
