Americans in 2012 enjoy less economic mobility than their peers in Canada and much of Western Europe, the New York Times reports.

In recent years, at least five large studies have identified a "mobility gap" in the United States. For example, a Swedish study found that 42 percent of American men raised in the bottom fifth of incomes stay there as adults — a level of persistent disadvantage that is much higher than what researchers found in Denmark (25 percent) and Great Britain (30 percent). That study also found that just 8 percent of American men in the bottom fifth rose to the top fifth, compared to 12 percent of British men and 14 percent of Danish men. Another study, by the Economic Mobility Project of the Pew Charitable Trusts, found that 62 percent of all Americans raised in the top fifth of incomes stay in the top two-fifths.

Read the full article at foundationcenter.org.