what percentage of the us population lives below the poverty line
13.5% In 2015, 13.5%
title: Poverty in the United States text: rural and inner city parts of the country as compared to suburban areas. Estimates of the number of Americans living in poverty are nuanced. One organization estimated that in 2015, 13.5% of Americans (43.1 million) lived in poverty. Yet other scholars underscore the number of Americans living in "near-poverty," putting the number at around 100 million, or nearly a third of the U.S. population. Starting in the 1930s, relative poverty rates have consistently exceeded those of other wealthy nations. The lowest poverty rates are found in New Hampshire, Vermont, Minnesota and Nebraska, which have between 8.7% and 9.1% of their title: Poverty in the United States text: Poverty in the United States Poverty is a state of deprivation, lacking the usual or socially acceptable amount of money or material possessions. The most common measure of poverty in the U.S. is the "poverty threshold" set by the U.S. government. This measure recognizes poverty as a lack of those goods and services commonly taken for granted by members of mainstream society. The official threshold is adjusted for inflation using the consumer price index. Most Americans will spend at least one year below the poverty line at some point between ages 25 and 75. Poverty rates are persistently higher in title: Poverty in the United States text: of poverty in the United States. The SPM extends the official poverty measure by taking account of many of the government programs designed to assist low-income families and individuals that are not included in the current official poverty measure. According to this new measure, 16% of Americans lived in poverty in 2011, compared with the official figure of 15.2%. The new measure also estimated that nearly half of all Americans lived within 200% of the federal poverty line. Duke University Professor of Public Policy and Economics Sandy Darity, Jr. says, "There is no exact way of measuring poverty. The measures title: Poverty in the United States text: report on the study in "The Guardian" stated: Some 12 million Americans live with diseases associated with extreme poverty. According to Philip Alston, the United Nations special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, 19 million people live in deep poverty (a total family income that is below one-half of the poverty threshold) in the United States as of 2017. The Urban Institute reported in August 2018 that nearly half of Americans, or 4 in 10, are struggling to afford basic needs, such as housing, utilities, groceries and health care. Some critics assert that the official U.S. poverty definition is title: Income deficit text: other being a ratio rather than a difference. The poverty threshold in the U.S. is updated each year by the U.S. Census Bureau. The number is adjusted according to inflation to reflect the updated cost of living in particular areas. In 2016 12.7% of Americans were living below the poverty threshold. Poverty thresholds depend on the number of people living in the household. There is still debate as to how to accurately calculate poverty, and which factors would be the most appropriate. While the poverty line reflects the general circumstances of a household (specifically, number of people and location), it