Child abuse costs nations worldwide billions of dollars a year, experts report.

In high-income nations, the median cost of child abuse equals a loss of 1.2 percent of per capita income, or $150 billion a year in the United States. The estimated cost in China -- a middle-income country -- is $50 billion a year, the experts added.

In East Asia and the Pacific, the cost of emotional child abuse alone is more than $48 billion a year, the researchers said.

The findings, from an international panel of experts, were to be presented Feb. 12 at a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Washington, D.C.

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