WASHINGTON — The number of children living on the threshold of poverty in working families surpassed 10 million in 2000 after increasing throughout the 1990s. Washington, with 9 percent, was among five states with the fewest such children.

The decade produced an overall improvement in the lives of American children, according to the annual Kids Count report. The report, to be released today, offers comparisons in 10 categories including death rates, poverty and education.

The improved economy and changes to welfare laws that moved more people into jobs contributed to the increase in the number of children in low-income working families, said William O'Hare, coordinator of the project for the Annie E. Casey Foundation, a private research and grant-making group that focuses on children.

Those families earn incomes near the poverty level — less than $26,000 for a family of four.

"We've got people no longer dependent on the government, but certainly not out of poverty," O'Hare said. "We haven't moved a lot of those people into jobs they can support a family with."

In 1990, 7.6 million children — 12.2 percent — lived in low-income working families. Ten years later, the number had increased to more than 10.2 million, or 14.7 percent of young Americans.

In 1999, the most recent year for which state data were available, New Mexico had the highest rate of children living in low-income working families — 26 percent. One Pacific Northwest state, Idaho, was among eight states at 20 percent or higher.

Washington, Alaska, Maryland, New Hampshire and Rhode Island had the lowest rate.

The report, based on government data, found that seven of the 10 categories measuring children's lives improved between 1990 and 1999. The indicators include children's chances of surviving infancy and childhood and avoiding becoming a teen parent.

Along with the growth in poverty, two other areas were worse:

• In 1990, 7 percent of babies were born weighing less than about 5.5 pounds, putting them at risk of developmental problems. By 1999, it was 7.6 percent, a jump explained in part by an increase in fertility treatments leading to more multiple births.

• The percent of families headed by a single parent increased from 24 to 27 percent.

The high-school dropout rate was a steady 10 percent.

© 2002 Associated Press

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