Poverty in the United States
The three most common reasons people fall into situational poverty are illness, divorce, and job loss.
Of the 25 richest industrialized nations, the United States has the highest childhood poverty rate.
37 million people live in poverty in the U.S. a number equal to the entire population of Canada.
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.
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-insecuremeaning they were not able to access enough food to meet basic nutritional needs.
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