Poverty

Poverty

* The poverty rate increased from 11.3% in 2000 to 14.3% in 2009, the highest poverty rate since 1994 and the highest absolute number of poor people on record. The 1.1% increase in the poverty rate between 2008 and 2009 was the second statistically significant increase since 2004. View source table


* Between 2000 and 2009, the proportion of children and adolescents under age 18 living in poverty increased from 16.2% to 20.7%, the highest rate for this age group since 1995.
* Between 2008 and 2009, the poverty rate increased by 1.7% among youth under age 18, from 19.0% to 20.7%.
* Between 2008 and 2009, the poverty rate among families with young children (age 0-5) increased by 2.6%, reaching a high of 23.8%.
* Between 2008 and 2009, the poverty rate increased among all age groups but seniors (those age 65 and older), among all races but Asians, and in all regions but the Northeast. Among Hispanics and blacks, the poverty rate increased by 2.1% and 1.1%, respectively.
* Although the poverty rate in households headed by a single female declined between 1993 and 2007, from 35.6% to 28.3%, it increased to 29.9% between 2007 and 2009.

Data sources: U.S. Census Bureau, Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2009.
U.S. Census Bureau, Annual Social and Economic Supplement, 2009 Poverty Tables.
Federal Reserve Board, 2007 Survey of Consumer Finances, Expanded Inflation-Adjusted Tables.
Federal Reserve Board, 2007 Survey of Consumer Finances Chartbook.