Nation IN BRIEF : NEW YORK : 5 Million Children Below Poverty Line

Five million American children under the age of 6--almost one out of every four in the nation--recently have been in families living below the poverty line, according to a report by the National Center for Children in Poverty, which is affiliated with Columbia University in New York. This makes young children the poorest of any age group in American society, with 23%--more than double the number of adults--living in poverty, the report said. The study, based on 1987 data, found that while 42% of all U.S. children living in poverty were white, the percentage of poor among whites overall was 13%. That compares to 48% for blacks and 42% for Latinos.