POVERTY IN AMERICA: DISHEARTENING STATISTICS

There are about 37 million people living under the poverty line in the United States. Thirty-seven million people whose American dream has turned into an authentic nightmare. Children and the elderly are the age groups most vulnerable to poverty.  Children account for the highest poverty rate.  In 2005, reports indicate that 12.9 million children are poor in the United States, meaning that 17.6 percent of our precious little people go to bed hungry every single night.  Out of these 12.9 million poor children, 9 percent are Non-Hispanic White, 34.2 percent are Black, and 27.74 percent are Hispanic. This statistics highly defy the widespread notion that all poor individuals are deserving of their poverty because this children have done nothing to be poor, they were simply victims of fate.  A poor child is not a child that is crying because Santa brought him an XBOX and not a PS3, a poor child is one that is crying because he is hungry, thirsty, and in many cases cold.  The elderly constitute 10.0 percent of the poor people of our nation, which is the second highest percentage of poverty.  Single mother households are also more prone to poverty than two-parent households.  For instance, black female-headed households have the highest poverty rate at 39.6 percent. They are closely followed by Hispanic female-headed households, which account for 39 percent.  Lastly, White Non-Hispanic female-headed households experience the lowest poverty rates in this category at 22.6 percent.   Due to the complexity of defining who is poor and more importantly how poor these individuals are, Amartya Sen developed a method to develop more descriptive statistics.  She categorized poverty into two main divisions “Extreme” Poverty and “Near” Poverty.  “Extreme” poverty is when the family income falls below half of the poverty threshold. These individuals endure critical hardships.  “Near” poverty is when the income of a family is less than 1.25 of the poverty threshold. These individuals endure serious hardships.  One can conclude that the development of effective poverty measures is one way in which the government can begin alleviating poverty because it is  impossible to find a solution if you do not fully comprehend the problem.