America may soon spend more on national debt interest than on its children

The national debt is becoming more important than America's children.

Investment in U.S. kids fell below 10 percent of annual federal spending in 2017 and is projected to shrink even more, a new study by the Urban Institute Kids' Share has found. Adults, on the other hand, hog 45 percent each year.

Spending on children through tax provisions, education, and health care totaled $375 billion of America's $3.9 trillion in federal spending in 2017. Most of that number — $180 billion — seemingly went to adults anyway through dependent exemptions and other tax provisions. Only $42 billion went to childhood education last year.

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Federal spending on children was only about 3.2 percent of the budget back in 1960. But it grew from there, peaking at 10.4 percent in 2010, per the study. Childhood spending has since shrunk and, if it continues as projected, will fall to 6.9 percent by 2028. Meanwhile, the national debt is growing, and America will likely be spending more on its debt's interest than on its children in two years.

Those shrinking numbers can partly be attributed to America's aging population, the study suggests. As baby boomers reach Medicare-receiving age, money spent on their Social Security and health care is only projected to grow.

At least the federal budget isn't something millennials can be blamed for ruining.