BREAKING NEWS

Study: More kids forgoing meals due to economic hardship

More than half of the country’s children who live below the poverty line were forced to give up on at least one meal a day over the past year due to their families’ economic difficulties, a report published Wednesday by the humanitarian aid organization Latet has revealed.
Based on data collected from more than 100 food aid charities countrywide and on in-depth interviews with individuals and families living below the poverty line, the organization’s Alternative Poverty Report for 2010 shows that some 55 percent of the estimated 850,300 children in this category had to forgo a nutritious meal every day because of their families’ economic status, an increase of 38% over the previous year.
“During the past 10 years, poverty in this country has significantly increased,” commented Latet director Eran Weintraub, adding that the increase was not just in numbers, as presented by the National Insurance Institute’s (NII) Annual Poverty Report, but also in the scale and scope of the type of poverty faced by those from weaker socioeconomic circles.