Youth Indicators, 2005: Trends in the Well-Being of American Youth

Indicator 33: Poverty

Table 33. Number and percentage of people in poverty, by sex, race/ethnicity, and age group: Various years, 1985 to 2002
			Percent in poverty
	Total		Sex		Race/ethnicity
Year	Number below poverty level (in thousands)	Percent in poverty	Male	Female	White	Black	Hispanic¹
All persons
1985	33,064	14.0	12.3	15.6	11.4	31.3	29.0
1990	33,585	13.5	11.7	15.2	10.7	31.9	28.1
1991	35,708	14.2	12.3	16.0	11.3	32.7	28.7
1992	38,014	14.8	12.9	16.6	11.9	33.4	29.6
1993	39,265	15.1	13.3	16.9	12.2	33.1	30.6
1994	38,059	14.5	12.8	16.3	11.7	30.6	30.7
1995	36,425	13.8	12.2	15.4	11.2	29.3	30.3
1996	36,529	13.7	12.0	15.4	11.2	28.4	29.4
1997	35,574	13.3	11.6	14.9	11.0	26.5	27.1
1998	34,476	12.7	11.1	14.3	10.5	26.1	25.6
1999	32,791	11.9	10.4	13.2	9.8	23.6	22.7
2000	31,581	11.3	9.9	12.6	9.5	22.5	21.5
2001	32,907	11.7	10.4	12.9	9.9	22.7	21.4
2002	34,570	12.1	10.9	13.3	10.2²	24.1³	21.8
Under 18 years old
1985	13,010	20.7	20.3	21.1	16.2	43.6	40.3
1990	13,431	20.6	20.5	20.8	15.9	44.8	38.4
1991	14,341	21.8	21.3	22.2	16.8	45.9	40.4
1992	15,294	22.3	21.5	22.3	17.4	46.4	40.0
1993	15,727	22.7	22.7	22.7	17.8	46.1	40.9
1994	15,289	21.8	21.4	22.2	16.9	43.8	41.5
1995	14,665	20.8	20.4	21.2	16.2	41.9	40.0
1996	14,463	20.5	20.0	20.9	16.3	39.9	40.3
1997	14,113	19.9	19.7	20.0	16.1	37.2	36.8
1998	13,467	18.9	18.4	19.4	15.1	36.7	34.4
1999	12,280	17.1	16.5	17.3	13.7	33.2	30.3
2000	11,587	16.2	15.8	16.3	13.1	31.2	28.4
2001	11,733	16.3	16.2	16.4	13.4	30.2	28.0
2002	12,133	16.7	16.8	16.6	13.6²	32.3³	28.6
18 to 24 years old
1985	4,513	16.6	14.0	18.8	14.0	31.2	29.9
1990	3,964	15.9	12.2	19.5	13.5	29.6	27.5
1991	4,120	16.9	13.5	20.1	14.0	31.9	27.6
1992	4,387	18.0	14.2	21.6	15.3	31.7	30.0
1993	4,854	19.1	14.8	23.3	16.0	34.4	31.0
1994	4,538	18.0	13.6	22.5	15.7	29.0	30.2
1995	4,553	18.3	15.0	21.7	15.9	30.5	30.6
1996	4,466	17.9	14.4	21.4	15.6	29.6	29.0
1997	4,416	17.5	13.9	21.1	15.5	28.0	25.8
1998	4,312	16.6	13.5	19.6	14.6	27.2	25.6
1999	4,603	17.3	14.0	20.7	14.8	29.3	23.8
2000	3,890	14.4	11.6	17.2	12.6	23.6	21.5
2001	4,449	16.3	13.6	19.0	14.1	26.8	21.0
2002	4,536	16.5	13.6	19.5	14.4²	28.0³	21.1
¹Hispanics may be of any race.
²White alone (excludes mixed race).
³Black alone (excludes mixed race).
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Poverty in the United States, various years.

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