The U.S. Census released its annual report on impoverished Americans. The statistics aren't good. One in six people living in the U.S. are currently living below the poverty level. Part of it is due to the economic recession that started three years ago. High unemployment is another factor in the unfavorable economic news.
Here's a look at poverty in the United States, by the numbers.
46.2 million: The number of people estimated to be impoverished in America. The figure includes adults and children. The raw number of impoverished people is the largest since statistics were kept dating to 1959, but that is a reflection of the overall population gain in the U.S. Almost 3 million people became impoverished in 2010 alone.
22,314: The amount of money, in dollars, a family of four must earn at a maximum to qualify as being impoverished. Even middle-income earners lost wages as the median income fell to $49,445, which dropped 2.3 percent from 2009.
4: The number of years in a row the poverty rate has increased. The rate increase has been the fastest of any four-year period in the history of the U.S. since official statistics have been kept. The sheer amount of people in poverty, added to the poor economic situation in the United States, has combined to make these statistics even more dire.
6.2: The percentage of married households in poverty. CNN reports the rate is one-fifth that of households with single mothers. That rate is an astonishing 31.6 percent. Households with a single father were impoverished 15.6 percent of the time.
50.2 million: The number of people living in food insecure households in 2009. Citizens who get below the poverty line often have trouble finding enough food to eat.
9.2 million: The number of people who utilize the WIC program in the U.S. as of 2010. Considering there were 8.7 million people enrolled to get food assistance in 2008 for women, children and infants, poverty is affecting many young families. When the program started in 1974, there were only 88,000 participants in WIC.
75: The percentage of participants in food stamps who have children living in their households. Almost a third of people on food stamps are elderly.
130: The percentage above the poverty line families can be in order to qualify for food stamps. The point is to keep families above being impoverished by helping them to purchase food before they drop to that level.
40: The percent of public housing occupied by elderly citizens . Subsidized housing units are often for people on fixed incomes and who don't earn very much money. Income requirements vary from place to place based upon the cost of living.
William Browning is a research librarian.
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