Cost of raising a child
Encyclopedia
The cost of raising a child varies from country to country.

Developing countries

According to Globalissues.org, "Almost half the world — over three billion people — live on less than $2.50 a day." This statistic
Statistic
A statistic is a single measure of some attribute of a sample . It is calculated by applying a function to the values of the items comprising the sample which are known together as a set of data.More formally, statistical theory defines a statistic as a function of a sample where the function...

 includes children. On this number, it costs roughly US$900 to raise a child for a year, and US$16,500 to raise a child from birth to age 17. Half of all children in the world live in poverty
Poverty
Poverty is the lack of a certain amount of material possessions or money. Absolute poverty or destitution is inability to afford basic human needs, which commonly includes clean and fresh water, nutrition, health care, education, clothing and shelter. About 1.7 billion people are estimated to live...

.

United States

Based on a survey
Statistical survey
Survey methodology is the field that studies surveys, that is, the sample of individuals from a population with a view towards making statistical inferences about the population using the sample. Polls about public opinion, such as political beliefs, are reported in the news media in democracies....

 by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the table below shows the estimated annual costs of raising a child. The table shows costs based on a family with two children on a per-child basis. The data comes from the Consumer Expenditure Survey by the U.S. Department of Labor, conducted from 1990-92. The figures have been updated to 2001 dollars using the Consumer Price Index
Consumer price index
A consumer price index measures changes in the price level of consumer goods and services purchased by households. The CPI, in the United States is defined by the Bureau of Labor Statistics as "a measure of the average change over time in the prices paid by urban consumers for a market basket of...

.

These figures from the USDA go up to age 18, and do not include any college education. Nor does it offer any cost estimates if the child remains in the home as a dependent
Dependant
This article is related to law. For the personality trait, see Dependent Personality DisorderA dependant or dependent is a person who relies on another as a primary source of income...

 after the age of 18.

There are two tables, the first for two-parent households, the second for single-parent families
Single parent
Single parent is a term that is mostly used to suggest that one parent has most of the day to day responsibilities in the raising of the child or children, which would categorize them as the dominant caregiver...

.

Dual-Parent Family

Age
of Child
Housing
House
A house is a building or structure that has the ability to be occupied for dwelling by human beings or other creatures. The term house includes many kinds of different dwellings ranging from rudimentary huts of nomadic tribes to free standing individual structures...

Food
Food
Food is any substance consumed to provide nutritional support for the body. It is usually of plant or animal origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals...

TransportationClothing
Clothing
Clothing refers to any covering for the human body that is worn. The wearing of clothing is exclusively a human characteristic and is a feature of nearly all human societies...

Health
Health
Health is the level of functional or metabolic efficiency of a living being. In humans, it is the general condition of a person's mind, body and spirit, usually meaning to be free from illness, injury or pain...

Child care
/Education
Education
Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...

MiscellaneousTotal
Before-tax income: up to $39,100
0 to 2 2,500 910 780 370 460 840 630 6,490
3 to 5 2,470 1,010 750 360 440 820 680 6,630
6 to 8 2,380 1,300 880 400 510 560 680 6,710
9 to 11 2,150 1,560 950 450 560 340 720 6,730
12 to 14 2,400 1,640 1,070 750 560 240 900 7,560
15 to 17 1,940 1,780 1,440 660 600 400 660 7,480
Total 41,520 24,600 17,610 8,970 9,390 9,990 12,720 124,800
Before-tax income: $39,100 to $65,800
0 to 2 3,380 1,090 1,160 430 610 1,380 980 9,030
3 to 5 3,350 1,260 1,130 420 580 1,530 990 9,260
6 to 8 3,260 1,600 1,260 470 660 980 1,030 9,260
9 to 11 3,030 1,890 1,330 520 720 640 1,250 9,190
12 to 14 3,280 1,900 1,450 870 720 470 1,250 9,940
15 to 17 2,820 2,110 1,840 780 770 810 1,010 10,140
Total 57,360 29,550 24,510 10,470 12,180 17,430 18,960 170,460
Before-tax income: $65,800 and up
0 to 2 5,370 1,440 1,630 570 700 2,090 1,630 13,430
3 to 5 5,340 1,630 1,600 560 670 2,270 1,650 13,720
6 to 8 5,250 1,970 1,720 610 770 1,560 1,690 13,570
9 to 11 5,020 2,290 1,800 670 820 1,090 1,720 13,410
12 to 14 5,270 2,400 1,920 1,100 830 840 1,900 13,170
15 to 17 4,810 2,530 2,330 1,000 870 1,470 1,660 14,670
Total 93,180 36,780 33,000 13,530 13,980 27,960 30,750 249,180

All numbers are in US dollars.

Reference:

Single-Parent Family

Age
of Child
HousingFoodTransportationClothingHealthChild care
/Education
MiscellaneousTotal
Before-tax income: up to $45,100
0 to 2 2,240 1,010 730 330 220 530 380 5,440
3 to 5 2,550 1,060 640 350 330 720 500 6,150
6 to 8 2,710 1,340 740 410 390 650 670 6,910
9 to 11 2,600 1,550 530 420 490 310 540 6,440
12 to 14 2,600 1,550 620 710 520 400 520 6,920
15 to 17 2,760 1,690 970 830 520 300 600 7,670
Total 46,380 24,600 12,690 9,150 7,410 8,730 9,630 118,590
Before-tax income: $45,100 and up
0 to 2 4,820 1,560 2,220 470 510 1,290 1,580 12,450
3 to 5 4,820 1,650 2,130 500 690 1,620 1,690 13,410
6 to 8 5,290 1,980 2,240 570 790 1,510 1,870 14,250
9 to 11 5,180 2,380 2,030 580 950 880 1,740 13,740
12 to 14 5,190 2,380 2,110 950 1,000 1,260 1,720 14,560
15 to 17 5,340 2,470 2,290 1,090 990 1,030 1,800 15,010
Total 92,850 37,110 39,060 12,480 14,790 22,770 31,200 250,260

All numbers are in US dollars.

Reference:

See also

  • Only child
    Only child
    An only child is a person with no siblings, either biological or adopted. In a family with multiple offspring, first-borns, may be briefly considered only children and have a similar early family environment, but the term only child is generally applied only to those individuals who never have...

  • Child support
    Child support
    In family law and public policy, child support is an ongoing, periodic payment made by a parent for the financial benefit of a child following the end of a marriage or other relationship...

  • Childfree
    Childfree
    Childfree also known as "voluntary childlessness" is a form of childlessness. The term was coined in the English language late in the 20th century and is used to describe people who have made a personal decision not to have children. The term childfree also describes domestic and urban...

  • Cost of living

  • Demographic economics
    Demographic economics
    Demographic economics or population economics is the application of economics to demography, the study of human populations, including size, growth, density, distribution, and vital statistics.Analysis includes economic determinants and consequences of:...

  • Family economics
    Family economics
    The family, although recognized as fundamental from Adam Smith on, received little systematic treatment in economics before the 1950s. A significant exception was Thomas Malthus's model of population growth. The work of Gary Becker and others initiated contemporary research on family economics ...

  • Family planning
    Family planning
    Family planning is the planning of when to have children, and the use of birth control and other techniques to implement such plans. Other techniques commonly used include sexuality education, prevention and management of sexually transmitted infections, pre-conception counseling and...


  • Family values
    Family values
    Family values are political and social beliefs that hold the nuclear family to be the essential ethical and moral unit of society. Familialism is the ideology that promotes the family and its values as an institution....

  • Single parent
    Single parent
    Single parent is a term that is mostly used to suggest that one parent has most of the day to day responsibilities in the raising of the child or children, which would categorize them as the dominant caregiver...

  • Middle class squeeze
    Middle class squeeze
    The middle class squeeze is the situation where increases in wages fail to keep up with inflation for middle income earners, while at the same time, the phenomenon fails to have a similar impact on the top wage earners...



External links

  • http://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMolt/idUSN2431320820080324
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