CHICAGO—In a statistical analysis comparing the United States to other industrialized nations, a new report released by McKinsey and Company on Monday found that American children were severely behind in age. “It appears that U.S. children and foreign children in Japan, Germany, Israel, France, China, Russia, and more than thirty other countries are comparable until adolescence, at which point American children suddenly drop off,” said Kyle Lafarciola, lead author of the report, who stated that in some extreme cases, American children as young as 5 years old were found to already be a decade behind their international peers. “There are too many American children who are 11 or 12 years old who should really be 17. It’s sad. What does that say about our priorities?” According to the report, the gap can be attributed to decades of American policy that failed to emphasize growing older.