Census Bureau: One in 7 Americans live in poverty

Washington, Sep 17: The study conducted by the United States Census Bureau found that one in seven Americans live in poverty.

The annual report on the economic well being of US households for the year 2009, President Barack Obama's first year in office, found that the ranks of the working-age poor climbed to the highest level since the 1960s as the recession threw millions of people out of work in 2009.

The poverty rate increased from 13.2 percent in 2008 to 14.3 percent in 2009 or 39.8 million people to 43.6 million people.

Census Bureau also found that Mississippi state had the highest share of poor people, at 23.1 percent, followed by Arizona, New Mexico, Arkansas and Georgia. The poverty among the working-age population, ages 18 to 64, rose from 11.7 percent to 12.9 percent.

OneIndia News