Poverty USA: The Faces of American Poverty
Children in America have higher poverty rates than adults, and people 65 and over have higher chronic poverty rates and lower exit rates than children or adults. (U.S. Census Bureau, Dynamics of Economic Well-Being: Poverty 1996-1999, July 2003.)
The rate and number of children in America living in poverty remained the same in 2004 at 17.8 percent and 13 million children. What’s more, children represented 35.2 percent of all the people in poverty – compared with 25.2 percent of the total population.
Children under the age of six have been particularly vulnerable to poverty. In 2004, the poverty rate for related children under six living in families remained the same at 19.8 percent, or 4.7 million children. Yet, of children under six living in families with only a female householder – with no father present – more than one out of two, or 52.6 percent, were in poverty, more than five times the rate of their counterparts in married-couple families. (U.S. Census Bureau, Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2004)
For Americans 18 to 64 years old, both the number in poverty and the poverty rate rose from 2003 to 2004 - from 19.4 million to 20.5 million, and from 10.8 percent to 11.3 percent, respectively. The number of elderly in poverty decreased to 9.8 percent in 2004 down from 10.2 percent in 2003, while the number in poverty remained unchanged at 3.5 million. (U.S. Census Bureau, Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2004)
The number and rate of Non-hispanic white Americans living in poverty rose the greatest among all groups, to 8.6 percent and 16.9 million, up from 8.2 percent and 15.9 million. Among Hispanics, the poverty rate remained unchanged at 21.9 percent in 2004 -- yet one out of every five Hispanics in America – 9.1 million people -- still live in poverty. And for African Americans, the poverty rate remained unchanged in 2004 at 24.7 percent. Still, nearly one out of every four African Americans lives in poverty, which is 8.8 million people. Asian Americans decreased from 11.8% in 2003 to 9.8% in 2004. (U.S. Census Bureau, Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2004, Current Population Reports, August 2004)
In 2004, 7.9 million American families - 10.2 percent of all families - were in poverty, up from 7.6 million (10 percent) in 2003.(U.S. Census Bureau, Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2004)
|
