The three most common reasons people fall into situational poverty are
illness, divorce, and job loss.
About 39.8 million Americans were living in poverty in 2008, up from
37.3 million in 2007. This number is more than the entire population of Canada.
The data for 2008 are in and the numbers tell a troubling story: Children represent 25 percent of the population, yet:
41 percent of all children live in low-income families.
19 percent--14 million--live in poor families.
Today children are nearly twice as likely as adults aged 65 and older to live in poor families.
-National Center for Children in Poverty, 2009
15.6 million people in the U.S. live at half the poverty level, in what is
qualified as “extreme poverty.”
Two-thirds of people living in poverty work more than one job in order to make
ends meet.
Of the 25 richest industrialized nations, the United States has the
highest childhood poverty rate second only to Mexico.
Forty percent of the poor are children, elderly or disabled.
Less than 60 percent of eligible children are served by Head Start, the
national school readiness program for children from low-income families.
Welfare accounts for only 1 percent of the federal budget and 2 percent of the
state budget.
Persons likely to be on welfare longer than the average time had less than 12
years of education.
The average family accessing welfare services is no bigger than the average
family not accessing welfare.
13 million children in America live in families with incomes below the
federal poverty level.
5 million children in America live in families with incomes of less than half
the national poverty level.
In 2004, almost 12 percent (more than one in eight) of American households
with children under 18 were food-insecure—meaning they were not able to access
enough food to meet basic nutritional needs.
Source: www.worldvision.org
