A new report conducted by the Annie E. Casey Foundation found it “especially troubling” that a rising number of children are living in poverty betraying the apparent healing of the Great Recession according to The Guardian report.

And Kids Count Data Book found that 22% of children are living in poverty compared to 18% percent at pre-recession 2008 levels.

“Even though the recovery has generated a lot of jobs and we’re seeing the stock market do well,” the foundation president, Patrick McCarthy, said but that not all prospects have been lifted equally.

Despite family income, 16 million children lived remained stagnant in poverty, where bad schools, high crime rates, drug abuse, and other bleak factors are consistent with a low tax base.

Disparities were also chalked up to race, where African American children were twice as likely to live in high-poverty areas and to live in single-parent homes compared to white children. In all, 39% of African American children lived in poverty in 2013, compared to 33% of Hispanic children, 14% of white kids and a 22% national average.

McCarthy added, “You’ve got not just decades but literally hundreds of years of discrimination, lack of opportunity and challenges for African American, Latino, American Indian families,” and elaborated on the rooted divides of discrimination exacerbated by developing economic trends locking in cycles of poverty that could remain indefinite.

These issues are most pronounced in the South and Southwest, and that although excluded from the United States rankings, Washington D.C. and Puerto Rico “experienced some of the worst outcomes” compared to the other areas of the US, the authors wrote.

The Northeast and Midwest topped the charts for the lowest rates of poverty opportunities for education. Minnesota ranked the highest for children’s overall well being where 98% of children in New Hampshire and Massachusetts were covered with health insurance.

Although students are still not at ideal reading and math levels, positive indicators show that fewer children are uninsured and the national graduation rate is at its peak.

The foundation proposes a multi-pronged approached that invests in these shortcomings, such as wage increases, tax benefits, food stamps, better access to education, and companies could provide more flexibility with work hours.  It has also compiled a database for users to check statistics and issues based on congressional district and zip code.