60 likes | 443 Views
Poverty. Who is poor, according to government standards? What causes poverty ?. The Poverty Threshold The poverty threshold is an income level that is insufficient to support a family or household. The Poverty Rate
E N D
Poverty • Who is poor, according to government standards? • What causes poverty?
The Poverty Threshold The poverty threshold is an income level that is insufficient to support a family or household. The Poverty Rate The poverty rate is the percentage of people who live in households with incomes below the official poverty line. https://www.census.gov/hhes/www/poverty/data/threshld/ Who Is Poor? According to the government, a poor family is one whose total income is below the poverty threshold. The Census Bureau collects data about how many families and households live in poverty.
Who is Poor? • Poverty Rate • African Americans and Hispanics have more than twice the poverty rate as whites. • Single mothers have poverty rates almost six times greater than two-parent families. • The percentage of children living in poverty is larger than any other age group. • People in the inner city have double the poverty rate as those outside the inner city.
Root Causes of Poverty Lack of Education • The median income of high-school dropouts in 2009 was $19,540, as compared to $27,380 for a High School Graduate.
Root Causes of Poverty Location • On average, people who live in the inner city earn less than people living outside the inner city. Shifts in Family Structure • Divorces result in more single-parent families and more children living in poverty. 50% percent of first marriages, 67% of second and 74% of third marriages end in divorce. While the overall divorce rate is declining, so are the number of marriages. • Between 1999 – 2009 there were a total of 421,388 marriages in Arizona and 265,377 divorces. That is a divorce rate of 63%. • During the same period there were 249,970 marriages in Maricopa County and 167,836 divorces – a divorce rate of 67%.