Poverty rate rises, especially for Hispanics
Hispanics saw one of the sharpest rises in poverty rate, with more than 1 in 4 now living below the poverty line. That's more than double the poverty rate for non-Hispanic whites.
More Americans are living in poverty than ever before – and for Hispanics, the trends are especially bleak.
Their poverty rate went up 1.3 percent in 2010, the sharpest annual rise of any group except blacks. More than a quarter of Hispanics – some 13.2 million people – were living below poverty level, more than double the 9.9 percent rate of non-Hispanic whites, according to a new report from the US Census Bureau. The median household income for Hispanics dropped from $38,667 to $37,759 – a decrease of 2.3 percent.
“It isn’t good,” said Mark Hugo Lopez, associate director at the Pew Hispanic Center in Washington. “The unemployment rate is higher, and household wealth declined more than in any other group.”
Hispanic household wealth fell a whopping 66 percent between 2005 and 2009, according to a separate Pew analysis.
As the largest minority group in the United States, with 50 million people making up approximately 15 percent of the country, and among the youngest, the Census Bureau’s poverty statistics are particularly alarming for children.
