Around 3 million more children in the U.S. are living in poverty than at the beginning of the Great Recession — a worrying statistic that mutes much of the fanfare of the nation's economic turnaround, according to a report released Tuesday on child welfare.

Twenty-two percent of U.S. children were living in poverty in 2013 compared with 18 percent in 2008, according to the Kids Count Data Book, an annual report that ranks states by the well-being of their children. It equates to an increase of 2.9 million children, according to census data from those years.

Poverty rates have nearly doubled among African-Americans and American Indians since 2008, and hardship is most severe in the South and Southwest, the report found.

The report, based on data from the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey, defines children in poverty as those under the age of 18, living in families with annual incomes below $23,624. In all, some 16,087,000 children are deemed to be living in poverty in America.

Minnesota ranked as the best state for overall child well-being, based on indicators including economic standing, education and health. Mississippi ranked the worst.

The report, released Tuesday from the child advocacy group the Annie E. Casey Foundation, showed signs of slight improvement in some areas, including high school graduation rates being at an all-time high and a falling percentage of children without health insurance.

But the bright spots weren't enough to offset a picture that many children have failed to benefit from the nation's economic recovery.

"We have seen job growth across all sectors in the United States after the recession, but a lot of the jobs being created that we see are low-wage and don't necessarily support the basic needs of a family," Florencia Gutierrez, a Foundation senior research associate, told Al Jazeera. "Although the recovery has helped a lot of people and many feel we are back to pre-recession levels, we are seeing that the most vulnerable families have been left behind."