The United States and Britain are prime examples of the harsh contrasts between booming national economies and families living in poverty so deep that the health and security of their children are at risk, according to a new report by the U.N. Children's Fund.

The report -- based on statistical information about the world's 29 wealthiest nations that make up the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development -- shows that 47 million children (or one out of six) in those countries live in extreme poverty.

Children in these environments tend to have learning disabilities, drop out, be unemployed, have criminal records, abuse drugs and alcohol and have children at an early age at much higher levels than their better-off contemporaries, the report states.

While many nations are doing well economically, this doesn't automatically translate into the needed social support for poor families and their children. For example, while U.S. child poverty rates are at their lowest levels since 1980, this still means an estimated 13.5 million children are at risk, the Associated Press reports.

Britain, in fact, had the highest level of child poverty in families where no adult had a job. This means the social support network has been reduced to the minimal level, because other nations have higher unemployment rates but lower child poverty levels, according to information from the U.N.'s Innocenti Research Center.

Based on the examples of Sweden, Norway, Finland and Spain, these problems can be dealt with if there is a national resolve.

"The persistence of child poverty in rich countries ... confronts the industrialized world with a test both of its ideals and of its capacity to resolve many of its most intractable social problems," the Innocenti group reports.

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