14.7 million children in poverty in the US costs the country $500 billion annually
"According to one study, the lost productivity and extra health and crime costs stemming from child poverty add up to roughly half a trillion dollars a year, or 3.8 percent of GDP.14 Another study found eliminating child poverty between the prenatal years and age 5 would increase lifetime earnings between $53,000 and $100,000 per child, for a total lifetime benefit of $20 to $36 billion for all babies born in a given year.15 And we can never measure the countless innovations and discoveries that did not occur because children’s potentials were stunted by poverty."
“Every year we keep 14.7 million children in poverty costs our nation $500 billion — six times more than the $77 billion investment we propose to reduce child poverty by 60 percent.”
Children's Defense Fund, "Ending Child Poverty Now," January 2015, Foreword, accessed February 2, 2015, http://www.childrensdefense.org/library/PovertyReport/EndingChildPoverty....