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Joint Economic Committee Democrats
Poverty Charts
Chart 3.5
Last updated 9/5/06
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In 2005 5.4 percent of Americans lived in “deep poverty” (below 50 percent of the poverty threshold). Compared to both the overall and poverty populations, children, blacks, and people in female-headed families all account for disproportionate shares of the deep poor.
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Despite cyclical movements in both the deep and overall poverty rates, the proportion of poor Americans living in deep poverty has remained around 40 percent since the 1980s.
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In 2005 4.2 percent of Americans lived in “near poverty” (between 100 percent and 125 percent of the poverty threshold), about the same share as in the late-1990s. That percentage shows less variability than the official or deep poverty rates.
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Although they make up only 12 percent of the overall population, the elderly account for 19 percent of the near poor.
Note: Click here for more information about how poverty is measured.
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