U.S. Census 2010 Results on Poverty

According to the 2010 results of the U.S. Census that has just been released, poverty level in the United States has increased to the highest level since the 1960s. One in seven Americans is now in poverty.

Census: 1 in 7 Americans live in poverty

The overall poverty rate climbed to 14.3 percent, or 43.6 million people, the Census Bureau said Thursday in its annual report on the economic well-being of U.S. households. The report covers 2009, President Barack Obama’s first year in office.

The poverty rate climbed from 13.2 percent, or 39.8 million people, in 2008.

Other census findings:

– Among the working-age population, ages 18 to 65, poverty rose from 11.7 percent to 12.9 percent. That puts it at the highest since the 1960s, when the government launched a war on poverty that expanded the federal role in social welfare programs from education to health care.

– Poverty rose among all race and ethnic groups, but stood at higher levels for blacks and Hispanics. The number of Hispanics in poverty increased from 23.2 percent to 25.3 percent; for blacks it increased from 24.7 percent to 25.8 percent. The number of whites in poverty rose from 8.6 percent to 9.4 percent.

– Child poverty rose from 19 percent to 20.7 percent.

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