Poverty in America

 The definition of poverty is defined as the state of one who lacks a usual or socially acceptable amount of money or material possessions. Poverty in the United States has been a real trending issue over the years it also has made a large increase, For example during the late 1950s, the poverty rate for every American was 22.4%. The numbers declined slowly throughout the 1960's, reaching a low of 11.1 percent in 1973. Over the next ten years, the poverty rate continually moved between 11.1 and 12.6%, it began to rise steadily again in 1980.In 1983, the number of individuals in poverty had risen 15.2 percent. For the next ten years, the poverty rate remained above 12.8 percent, growing larger to 15.1 percent, or 39.3 million individuals, by 1993. The rate declined for the remainder of the decade, to 11.3 percent by 2000. From 2000 to 2004 it rose each year to 12.7 in 2004. Since the late 1960s, the poverty rate for people over 65 has fallen dramatically. The poverty rate for children has historically been somewhat higher than the overall poverty rate. The poverty rate for people in households headed by single women is significantly higher than the overall poverty rate. From 2009 to 2010 the poverty rate increased to 15.1 percent in 2010, up from 14.3 percent in 2009 and the highest level since 1993, according to the U.S. Census Bureau's annual Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage report for 2010. An additional 2.6 million people landed in poverty in 2010, bringing the total to 46.2 million. The highest number since the government started tracking poverty in the 1950s. Poverty in America will continue to increase unless people try to help out the ones who are less fortunate in their community's.