美国农业部4日发布报告说，美国一个中等收入家庭把一个出生于2008年的孩子养到18岁预计需花费29.15万美元。这一费用在计算时已考虑通货膨胀因素。
住房费用是养育孩子的最大一笔支出，占预计全部花费的32%左右。这笔费用按每增加一个孩子需添置一间卧室的支出计算。食品、照顾与教育子女费用各占总花费的16%左右。
《家庭养育子女花费》报告由农业部营养政策和促进中心撰写。自1960年以来，报告每年发布一次，旨在为法庭和政府处理与子女赡养费相关事务提供参考。
1960年出生的孩子养育费用为2.5万美元左右，若按2008年币值计算，约为18.35万美元。2007年出生的孩子养育费用为26.9万美元左右。父母养育子女的实际开支往往远不止报告中估算数字，原因是报告中公布的养育费不包括妊娠期间的花费和子女17岁以后上大学的费用。
眼下，美国四年制公立大学平均学杂费为每年6585美元，食宿费7748美元；四年制私立大学平均学杂费每年2.5万美元，食宿费8989美元。
农业部计划不久推出一项在线估算养育子女费用的服务。届时，人们输入子女的年龄、子女人数、居住地区和家庭总收入，就可以知道大概需要花多少钱才能把子女养大。
http://news.sina.com.cn/w/2009-08-07/040916080601s.shtml
USDA RELEASES ANNUAL STUDY WHICH NOTES THAT CHILD BORN IN 2008 WILL COST $221,190 TO RAISE
WASHINGTON, Aug. 4, 2009 – The U.S. Department of Agriculture today released a new report, Expenditures on Children by Families, finding that a middle-income family with a child born in 2008 can expect to spend about $221,190 ($291,570 when adjusted for inflation) for food, shelter, and other necessities to raise that child over the next seventeen years.
Issued by USDA each year since 1960, the report is a valuable resource to courts and state governments in determining child support guidelines and foster care payments. For the year 2008, annual child-rearing expenses for a middle-income, two-parent family ranges from $11,610 to $13,480, depending on the age of the child.
The report by USDA's Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion notes that family income affects child rearing costs. A family earning less than $56,870 per year can expect to spend a total of $159,870 (in 2008 dollars) on a child from birth through high school. Similarly, parents with an income between $56,870 and $98,470 can expect to spend $221,190; and a family earning more than $98,470 can expect to spend $366,660. In 1960, a middle-income family could have expected to spend $25,230 ($183,509 in 2008 dollars) to raise a child through age seventeen.
Housing costs are the single largest expenditure on a child, averaging $69,660 or 32 percent of the total cost over seventeen years. Food and child care/education (for those with the expense) were the next two largest expenses, each averaging 16 percent of the total expenditure. The estimates do not include the cost of childbearing or the cost of a college education. In addition, some current-day costs, such as child care, were negligible in 1960.
The report notes geographic variations in the cost of raising a child, with expenses the highest for families living in the urban Northeast, followed by the urban West and urban Midwest. Families living in the urban South and rural areas have the lowest child-rearing expenses.
USDA also plans to soon release an update of the Cost of Raising a Child Calculator, an online, interactive version of its annual report on Expenditures on Children by Families, which makes the figures more easily accessible to the public. To use the Calculator, people can enter the age(s) and number of children they have, whether the household consists of a married couple or a single parent, region of residence, and overall household income. The Calculator will then compute the average dollar amount the family is estimated to spend on their child or children and compare it to the national average cost of raising a child.
The full report, Expenditures on Children by Families, is available on the web at
www.cnpp.usda.gov .
http://www.usda.gov/wps/portal/! ... id=2009/08/0365.xml.
