Dr. Reilly
ECON 152
October 11, 2014
Assignment 14.1
Is poverty on the rise or on the decline? Go to the U.S. Census Bureau Web site, www.census.gov/, and select "Poverty" (under People). Use the data provided to answer the following questions:
a. Is the number of people living below the official government poverty level higher or lower than it was in the preceding year? Than it was a decade earlier?
b. Is the poverty rate (in percent) higher or lower than it was in the preceding year for the general population, children under 18, blacks, Asians, Pacific Islanders, and whites?
c. How many states had increases in the poverty rate compared to the preceding year?
The number of people living in the poverty rate in 2010 was around 46.2 (15.1 percent of population) million. This is a rise from the 2009 figure of around 44.8 (14.6 percent of the population) million people living in the poverty rate. The 2010 figure is also greater then the 2000 figure which is around 31(11.5 percent of the population) million people.
For the general population the percent in poverty for 2010 was 15.1 percent and increase from the preceding year by 0.5 percent. 2009 figure is 14.6 percent poverty. For children under 18 in 2010 the rate was 22.0 percent and increase of around 1.5 percent from the preceding year. 2009 rate was around 20.5 percent. For Blacks the poverty rate in 2010 was 27.4 percent an increase of 1.6 from the 2009 figure of 25.8. For Asians the poverty rate in