Question

What are the stylized facts regarding poverty in America/who are the poor? What are some demographic characteristics and their relationship to poverty?

Answer 1

The government of United States defines poverty as being equal to or less than three times an average family in United States with minimum food expenditures as it is calculated by the USDA. The percentage of families in United States with incomes below the poverty line is known as the poverty rate. Since the early 1970s, average incomes in US have increased, however the poverty rate increased slightly. America spends only 16.2 percent of its GDP on social programs, in comparison to 21.3 percent what similarly developed nations do. Nearly 45.8 percent under the age of 6 who are black children are living in poverty, in comparison to around 14.5 percent of white children of the similar age. One of main facts in the United States about poverty is that is most striking is that in rural areas in America one in four children live in poverty, in comparison to one in five in the urban areas. U.S. is among the largest inequality wealth gaps in the world

In America, poverty does not strike equally on all demographics. US Census Data in 2018 revealed that 12.9% of women and 10.6% of men were included in poverty. In the similar manner in 2018 the poverty rate for single-parent families where there was no husband was 24.9%, single-parent families with no wife present covered 12.7%, but for the married couples it was 4.7%. The highest poverty rate by race is for the Native Americans (approx. 25.4%), the second highest poverty rate for with Blacks (approx. 20.8%); the third highest poverty rate for Hispanics (of any race) (approx. 17.6%). The poverty effects on people of color and women disproportionately in the U.S. African Americans holds the high rates of poverty for any ethnic group, nearly 27.4 percent. Race and poverty are strongly correlated, in large part because racial discrimination results to poverty.