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Joint Economic Committee Democrats
Poverty Charts
Chart 3.2
Last updated 9/5/06
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Poverty rates vary significantly by age group. In 2005 the child poverty rate was 17.6 percent, considerably higher than the poverty rates for both non-elderly and elderly adults (11.1 percent and 10.1 percent, respectively).
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For all age groups, the poverty rate declined during the expansion of the 1990s. The poverty rate for children fell by 6.5 percentage points.
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Poverty rates for all groups rose during and following the 2001 recession. While the elderly poverty rate in 2005 was equal to its 2001 level, the rates for both children and non-elderly adults remained significantly higher than their 2001 levels.
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The official poverty threshold for a given family size is lower for the elderly than for the non-elderly.
Note: Click here for more information about how poverty is measured.
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