US poverty rate up to 12.7 percent in 2004 

US poverty rate up to 12.7 percent in 2004

US poverty rate up to 12.7 percent in 2004



The poverty rate in the United States increases to 12.7 percent of the population in 2004, marking the fourth consecutive annual rise, the Census Bureau said Tuesday.

According to the Bureau, there were 37 million Americans living in poverty, up 1.1 million people from 2003.

The only ethnic group to show a decline in poverty was Asians. The poverty rate in Asians went down to 9.8 percent in 2004 from 11.8 percent in 2003. Also, the poverty rate among the elderly decreased to 9.8 percent last year from 10.2 percent in 2003.

Last year, the number of people without health insurance grew from 45 million to 45.8 million while the number of people with health insurance rose by 2 million. The percentage of people without health insurance did not change.

In the United States, the poverty threshold differs by the size and makeup of a household. A family of four with two children was considered living in poverty if the annual income was 19,157 dollars or less. For a family of two with no children, it was 12,649 dollars. For a person 65 and over living alone, it was 9,060 dollars.

The Bureau said the median household income, the point at which half of households earn more and half earn less, was 44,389 dollars in 2004, unchanged from 2003. Among racial and ethnic groups, blacks had the lowest median income and Asians the highest.

By region, household income declined 2.8 percent in the Midwest to 44,657 dollars. The South was the poorest region, and the Northeast and the West had the highest median incomes.

The last decrease in US overall poverty was in 2000, when 31.1 million people, or 11.3 percent of the population, lived under the threshold.

Source: Xinhua