LONDON (Xinhua) -- One in three children in the United Kingdom live in poverty, if housing costs are taken into account, taking the total to 3.8 million last year, according to a charity report published Monday.

The number of children living in poverty rose by 200,000 in 2006 compared to the year before, according to the report by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, one of the UK's largest housing and social policy research charities.
The foundation examined 50 indicators of poverty and social exclusion, and found a worsening in nine, mainly in the key areas of income and work.
The foundation said there has been no sustained progress in the past three years as its report found that a quarter of 19-year-olds lack minimum levels of qualifications, and the jobless rate among under-25s is running at 20 percent.
It said the government's emphasis on work being the answer to poverty was not a solution because many of the jobs were poorly paid. This is borne out by the fact that half of all children living in poverty are from working households.
The conclusions reached by the foundation are a significant setback for Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who has staked much of his reputation on tackling poverty.
The report comes after it emerged that the government's joint committee on child poverty, headed by Brown, had not met for nearly five years.
The number of children living in poverty has fallen by 600,000 since the government made its pledge to end child poverty in 1999. But this still leaves the government 500,000 short of the target it should have reached in 2005.
(Source: xinhuanet.com)