The U.S. Census Bureau released its 2011 poverty report this morning, reporting that 46.2 million people were living in poverty, amounting to 15 percent of the population.
Neither was significantly different than 2010. All major demographic categories – white, African-American, Hispanic, Asian – were also essentially the same as last year. The number of children and the elderly in poverty remained the same.
On the rise, though, is the rate income inequality. David Johnson, chief off social, economic, and housing statistics division at the Census Bureau, said that a lot of the increase in inequality is driven by changes at the top, explaining that the top 1 percent of the population experienced a 6 percent increase since 2010.
Ten percent of of households have an income of below $12,000. Income for the poorest in our country declined by 1.9 percent.
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