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In the United States, official statistics on poverty and the official poverty line are kept by the US Census Bureau. Other federal and state agencies, however, use other definitions of poverty, for example, to do means testing for welfare programs. A boy from an East Cipinang trash dump slum in Jakarta, Indonesia shows his find. ...
The poverty line is the level of income below which one cannot afford to purchase all the resources one requires to live. ...
The United States Census Bureau (officially Bureau of the Census) is a part of the United States Department of Commerce. ...
Welfare has four main meanings. ...
History
The first official poverty line for the United States was developed by Mollie Orshansky for the Social Security Administration in 1964. It was amended, then later adopted for the Lyndon Johnson administration's War on Poverty as a general statistic on poverty. Orshansky's definition calculated the minimum amount of income a family unit would need to purchase food for all family members to eat the cheapest nutritionally acceptable diet described by the United States Department of Agriculture. She then multiplied that number by three, the average percentage that U.S. families spent on food. Orshansky did not intend this figure to measure the minimum income necessary for survival. Rather, she meant this as a statistical tool in order to facilitate the studying of issues of poverty. (From Fisher, 1992) The United States Social Security Administration (SSA) manages the United States social insurance program, consisting of retirement, disability, and survivors benefits. ...
1964 was a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ...
Lyndon Baines Johnson (August 27, 1908–January 22, 1973), often referred to as LBJ, was an American politician. ...
The War on Poverty (1964-1968) was a campaign of legislation and social services aimed at reducing or eliminating poverty in the United States of America. ...
Income, generally defined, is the money that is received as a result of the normal business activities of an individual or a business. ...
The U.S. Department of Agriculture, also called the Agriculture Department, or USDA, is a Cabinet department of the United States Federal Government. ...
The U.S. Census Bureau now reports:
- If a family's total income is less than that family's threshold, then that family, and every individual in it, is considered poor. The official poverty thresholds do not vary geographically, but they are updated annually for inflation using the Consumer Price Index (CPI-U). The official poverty definition counts money income before taxes and does not include capital gains and noncash benefits (such as public housing, Medicaid, and food stamps).
Official figures report that the cash income level of about ten percent of Americans places them below the poverty line. However, these figures cannot be directly compared with official figures in other countries, as each country uses different measurements. In economics, the Consumer Price Index (CPI, also retail price index) is a statistical measure of a weighted average of prices of a specified set of goods and services purchased by wage earners in urban areas. ...
Public housing or social housing is a form of housing tenure in which the property is owned by a government authority, which may be central or local. ...
Medicaid in the United States is a program managed by the states and funded jointly by the states and federal government to provide health insurance for individuals and families with low incomes and resources. ...
The Food Stamp Program is a program that provides food to low income people living in the United States. ...
Controversy The US poverty line is controversial, with some advocates claiming it understates poverty in the US and other advocates claiming it overstates poverty.
For instance, it has been pointed out that many of the lowest ten percent of U.S. households, all officially denominated as poor, have possessions which were considered luxuries, or in some cases nonexistent, fifty years ago. [1]
- color televisions, 91%
- microwave ovens, 74%;
- VCRs, 55%;
- clothes dryers, 47%;
- stereos, 42%;
- dishwashers, 23%;
- computers, 21%;
- garbage disposers, 19%
Certain commentators have questioned the placement of the poverty line, asking whether people with access to such resources should be denominated as poor.
Critics point out that while some of these items are not necessities they are much easier to produce today than fifty years ago, making them inexpensive. In the 1950s, a microwave cost more than two years of low-income rent; today one can be had for a fraction of one month's rent. Furthermore, present conditions are compared to an arbitrary time period (fifty years ago). If one chooses an earlier period - say, a hundred years ago - many more items would become luxuries or nonexistent (i.e. refrigerators, electric lights, gas ranges, etc.).
2003 On August 26, 2004 the U.S. Census Bureau published its poverty report for 2003. The official poverty rate was up to 12.5% from 12.1% in 2002. The total number of people below the poverty line rose by 1.3 million to 35.9 million. August 26 is the 238th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (239th in leap years). ...
2004(MMIV) is a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
2002(MMII) is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
Since 2000 the total number of people below the poverty line has increased by about 5 million.
2005 On August 30, 2005, the U.S. Census Bureau published its poverty report for 2004. The official poverty rate rose from 12.5% in 2003 to 12.7% in 2004. This puts the number of people officially living in poverty in America at 37 million. August 30 is the 242nd day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (243rd in leap years), with 123 days remaining. ...
2005 is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
See also There is significant disagreement about poverty in the United States; particularly over how poverty ought to be defined. ...
The War on Poverty (1964-1968) was a campaign of legislation and social services aimed at reducing or eliminating poverty in the United States of America. ...
100 Poorest Counties by Per Capita Income Number of counties by state in the 100 poorest counties: Texas, 17; Kentucky, 16; Mississippi, 14; South Dakota, 10; Louisiana, 5; Alabama, 4; Georgia, 4; Montana, 4; New Mexico, 4; North Dakota, 3; Arizona, 2; Idaho, 2; Nebraska, 2; Tennessee, 2; West Virginia...
This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ...
External links
References - Fisher, Gordon: The Development of the Orshansky Poverty Thresholds, May 1992
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