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Youth Indicators 1996 / Indicator 21, Chart 1


Indicator 21. Poverty


Percent of related children under 18 years old living in poverty, by type of family: 1960 to 1994

Chart for Indicator 21

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, Current Population Reports, Series P-20, Characteristics of the Population Below the Poverty Level, various years; Series P-60, Money Income and Poverty Status of Families and Persons in the United States, various years; Series P-60, Poverty in the United States: 1991, no. 181; Income, Poverty, and Valuation of Noncash Benefits: 1993, no. 188; and unpublished data.

The proportion of children living in poverty declined significantly during the 1960s but rose after 1970. In 1994, about 21 percent of all children and 53 percent of children in female-headed families (with no husband present) lived in poverty. Poverty rates were relatively high for minority children, especially for those in female-headed households. About 43 percent of all black children and 41 percent of Hispanic children lived in poverty in 1994. The proportion of poor children coming from female-headed households has risen dramatically, from 24 percent in 1960 to 58 percent in 1994 for all children, and from 29 percent to 82 percent for black children.


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