 About 15.70% of families and 20.40% of the population were below the poverty line, including 27.80% of those under age 18 and 16.90% of those age 65 or over.Native residents of Newton County were interviewed in 1970 for research being done by a doctoral student at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville.A Ph.D. degree was awarded to Bethany K. Dumas in May 1971 after she completed "A Study of the Dialect of Newton County, Arkansas."