Statistics: USA Poverty:

TODAY 12 million children live in poverty.

General Statistics:

• Total Population: 300 million
• Life Expectancy: 77.4
• 12.7% live below poverty level - 37 million live below poverty level
• 5.6 million children are in extreme poverty. Extreme poverty means living below $7,870 for a family of 3
• 11% have food insecurity
• 9% have no medical insurance
• DC has highest national poverty rate at 33%
• MA 9.2% poverty, Louisiana 16.7%.
• 8.6% of whites live in poverty; 25% of blacks.
• Among the 21 affluent nations of the world, the USA has the highest number of children living in poverty (18.9%), twice that of the second highest.
• US has largest gap between rich and poor of any industrialized nation: bottom 40% live on under $22,000 a year with the USA having the highest number of billionaires in the world: 269.
• Since 2000, the number of people below the poverty line has increased by 5 million. We have 37 MILLION (population of CA) in America living below the poverty line. 3.5 million homeless - that's the entire state of OR and 1.3 million are homeless children, with 4% under the age of 5.
• Poorest in nation: Pine Ridge Indian Reservation - 85% unemployment, 97% poverty, life expectancy 50, teenage suicide 4 times the national average, infant mortality 5 times the national average. Many families don't have electricity, water or sewer.
• Of all the developed nations in the world, the United States has the largest gap between rich and poor.
• US ranks 21 on the human poverty list.
• 17.6 % of children under 18 live in poverty and the highest population of poor are children under the age of 6 where one in five lives below poverty.
• Single parent households make up 60% of the poor families.

Economics and the Homeless:

• 1.3 million are homeless children and 4% under 5
• Half of all homeless women and children are fleeing domestic violence
• Families make up 33% of the homeless population
• Veterans account for 1/3 of our homeless in America
• America spends less than 1% of the federal budget on poverty.
• USA has $44 trillion in reported liabilities - we are the largest debtor in the world, net operating deficit of 296 billion, 77 billion in interest to foreign creditors, including interest on the $300 billion we borrowed from China.
• 45% of homeless population are single males, and of those 40% are veterans.
• 15-22 % of the homeless are employed.
• Poverty, by the government's outdated standard is below $20,000 for a family of 4.
• A livable min. wage is around $10 an hour.

Healthcare:

• Our life expectancy while higher than poor countries, is actually lower than most of the European Union by about a year and a half.
• America spends more on health care than the EU. Total health care per capita in the US is 6,100 versus a 2,550 average in the EU. Our government pays 43% of health care costs while EU pays 73%. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development report on health care in 2006 states the following in regards to the 10 developed nations who are members: Americans are the least satisfied with their health care; America has the most privatized health care of any member; we spend 14% of our GDP on health care compared to 9% in Canada; $911 is spent annually per person on administrative costs vs. $270 in Canada; Canada's infant mortality is 1/3 lower than here in the US; Canadians live 2 years longer. Canada is also ranked #1 by the UN for quality of life.

Education:

• Despite high spending per student, class size is larger than OECD average of 21.
• Teacher salaries are higher than OECD averages and US teachers are expected to teach on average 200 hours more.
• Adults who do not finish high school earn 35% less than if they had graduated.
• Over 25% of 15 year olds are not math literate - ranking the US 21, with only 5 other countries having worse scores.
• 30% of 8th graders do not read at an 8th grade reading level.
• National graduation rate is only 75%.
• Students in the US can expect 4 years less education than European students.
• The US has slipped from first to 7th of the OECD members in tertiary attainment level.
• Only 50% of US college students graduate.
• Not graduating high school raises the chance of living in poverty to 49%.
• Education at a Glance, a report done annually for OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation & Development) "More than a quarter of 15-year-olds in the United States…. performed at or below the lowest levels on math and problem solving and students from poor families were 3.5 times more likely to do badly. .. Adults who do not finish high school in the United States earn 65 percent of what people make if they do finish high school. No other country had such a severe income gap..."
• Article in the Washington Post, 12/25/05: 69% of our college graduates can not read or analyze a complex book.
• The U.S. spends more per student from elementary school through college than all countries except Switzerland.