One in six Americans living below poverty line: Census

WASHINGTON: One in six Americans are now living below poverty line, the Census Bureau said in a report, reflecting the adverse impact of economic crisis on common man. "The nation's official poverty rate in 2010 was 15.1 per cent, up from 14.3 per cent in 2009 - the third consecutive annual increase in the poverty rate," Census Bureau said in its report. "There were 46.2 million people in poverty in 2010, up from 43.6 million in 2009 - the fourth consecutive annual increase and the largest number in the 52 years for which poverty estimates have been published," it said. These findings are contained in the report 'Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States: 2010.' The government defines the poverty line as income of USD 22,314 (about Rs 10 lakh) a year for a family of four and USD 11,139 (about Rs 5 lakh) for individual.
Census Bureau said, the number of people without health insurance coverage rose from 49.0 million in 2009 to 49.9 million in 2010, while the percentage without coverage - 16.3 per cent - was not statistically different from the rate in 2009. Since 2007, the year before the most recent recession, real median household income has declined 6.4 per cent and is 7.1 per cent below the median household income peak that occurred prior to the 2001 recession in 1999.