The U.S. Census revealed data this week regarding poverty that is quite eye-opening. 15.1 percent of our population were living below the poverty line in 2010. That is the highest level since 1993. And here’s an even more disheartening figure: Between 2009 and 2010, one million more children were added to this statistic. In total, as of 2010, our country has 15.7 million children living below the poverty line.
What is the poverty line, you ask? The Census Bureau uses numbers they call “poverty thresholds” and those figures are determined based on two factors: the number of people in your household and what age group they fall into.
The Census Bureau has listed Mississippi as the state with the highest number of children living in poverty at 32.5 percent. Unfortunately, Mississippi takes a beating in other statistics as well. It is also the state with the highest number of people living in poverty (21.3 percent), not just children. It ranks eighth as the state with the number of people without health insurance, and seventh in state unemployment rates (10.4 percent).
Hurricane Katrina hit Mississippi pretty hard and since then, it has been hard to recover and rebuild. Mississippi, just as the rest of America, needs a jolt of energy to boost the economy, the morale, and job numbers.
New Mexico is another state that has been hit hard with poverty. As a state, 30 percent of their children live in poverty. Albuquerque listed as the eighth poorest suburb in the US, with 17 percent of its population living in poverty. That number has gone up by 44 percent since the year 2000.
Cities have always seen poverty, but now it is starting to bleed into the suburbs as well, which affects families. Many of the foreclosed homes were in the suburbs.
Stockton, California has had an increase in their poverty rate of 56.4 percent in the last 10 years. Cape Coral – Fort Myers, Florida had an increase of 142.3 percent in the last ten years. The numbers are staggering, frightening, and certainly makes one think. Those types of numbers are certainly enough to wipe out whole neighborhoods, in which case, it’s no wonder we have so many impoverished children.
As far as the numbers in the suburbs go, only 16.1 percent of impoverished children reside there. Most of them live in the city (28.7 percent). However, a large number of them, 25.4 percent, live in rural areas.
With that many living in rural areas, one can’t help but be concerned. Are these children getting the food they need to insure they are not malnourished? In the city, or even the suburbs, there are soup kitchens, food pantries, and neighbors to help when there is not enough food to go around. Are these children getting appropriate medical care? The hospital might be miles and miles away from where they live and too costly. Those are issues that people in rural communities need to think about.
With so many people living in poverty in our country, the elderly, children, the lady in the next apartment, the homeless man on the corner, it is time for us to step forward and take action.
Sources:
"America's 10 poorest states: 24/7 Wall St." Huffingtonpost.com. 15 Sep 2011. Web. 24 Sep 2011.
University of New Hampshire. "One million more U.S. children living in poverty since 2009, new census data shows." ScienceDaily, 23 Sep 2011. Web. 24 Sep 2011.
"Poverty thresholds." Census.gov. 13 Sep 2011. Web. 24 Sep 2011.
"10 suburbs with the highest poverty rates: census." huffingtonpost.com 23 Sep 2011. Web. 24 Sep 2011.
Shelly Lange - Shelly Lange enjoys writing, reading, and learning about a variety of topics. She is a wife and mother, and as if that didn't keep her ...
Join the Conversation