Public action is not sufficient to offset the relatively higher rate of poverty among children. Consumption among children and youth in the region is basically financed through private channels, especially for early childhood. Whereas in the European countries and the United States, about 47% of consumption among children and youth under the age of 24 is publicly financed, in the Latin American countries the government contributes less than 25% of the total, with the remaining 75% provided by the family (Mason and Lee, 2011). In such unequal societies with such divergent fertility patterns between socioeconomic groups, this means that a high proportion of children will not receive adequate investment in their nutritional, health or educational development.