Domestic Hunger & Poverty Facts

• From 1967 to 2003, average household income (adjusted dollars) grew from $7.589 to 9,996 for those in the bottom 20%, and grew from $83,758 to $147,078 for those in the top 20%.₁
• In 2003, California had a poverty rate of 13.4%, compared to 9% in Virginia, 19.9% in Washington D.C., and 12.7% for the U.S. ₁
• For those living in poverty, the poverty gap per family member (defined as the total dollar amount short of the poverty line) grew from $1,873 to $3,018 (adjusted dollars) between 1975-2003. ₁
• From the years 1980-2000, average net income (adjusted dollars) for households with children grew by $876,300 for the top 1%, and grew by $2,000 for those in the bottom 20%. ₁
• While the number of persons at poverty level declined from 13.4% to 12.5% from 1987-2003, the number of persons on Medicaid grew from 8.4% to 12.4%₁
• Approximately 7.5 million workers (6% of the U.S. workforce) earn at or near the federal minimum wage of $5.15 an hour.₂
• If the federal minimum wage had maintained its 1968 peak value, it would be $8.69 an hour today. ₂
• From 1956 to 1981, the minimum wage was approximately half of the average American workers wage; today it is about 30%. ₂
• In the 1960s and 70s, a full-time worker earning minimum wage could support a family of three at the poverty level. ₂
• Approximately 7.5 million workers (6% of the U.S. workforce) earn at or near the federal minimum wage of $5.15 an hour. ₄
• From 1956 to 1981, the minimum wage was approximately half of the average American workers wage; today it is about 30%. ₄
• In the 1960s and 70s, a full-time worker earning minimum wage could support a family of three at the poverty level. ₄
• Of those individuals directly affected by the most recent federal increase in the minimum wage, 70% were over the age of 19, and 35% of the income gains went to the poorest one-fifth of working households.₂
• Currently, 13 states have laws mandating a state minimum wage that exceeds the federal level by at least one dollar and is near half the average wage of workers in that state. ₂
• Housing costs continue to squeeze the budgets of low-income families. The typical household in poverty paid 64% of its income for housing in 2003, up from 61% in 1997. ₃
• One of every 12 (8.3%) elderly Whites were poor in 1999, compared to 22.7% of elderly African-Americans and 20.4% of elderly Hispanics. ₄
• A worker earning minimum wage would have to work 97 hours a week to pay the rent of an average two-bedroom apartment. ₅
• Poverty rates are highest for families headed by single women, particularly if they are black or Hispanic. In 2001, 26.4% of female-headed families were poor, while 13.1% of male-headed families and 4.9% of married couple’s households lived in poverty. In 2001, both black and Hispanic female-headed families had poverty rates exceeding 35%. ₆
• The U.S. Conference of Mayors reports that in 2004, requests for emergency food assistance increased an average of 13%. The study also found that 56% of those requesting emergency food assistance were employed. High housing costs, low-paying jobs, unemployment, and the economic downturn led the list of reasons contributing to the rise. ₇

Source material:

1. Just the Facts: Poverty in Los Angeles Institute for the Study of Homelessness and Poverty, US Poverty, Income and Health Insurance Data, March 2003.
2. Institute on Assets and Social Policy, Minimum Wage: Creating an Asset Foundation.
3. Hunger, Crowding, and Other Hardships are Widespread among Families in Poverty, Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, December 2004.
4. "Poverty in the United States: 1999, U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Reports, pg.60-210.
5. Institute for Children and Poverty, Homeless in America: A Children's Story - Part One (New York, NY: 1999); Twombly, Out of Reach: The Growing Gap Between Housing Costs and Income of Poor People in the United States (Washington, DC: The National Low Income Housing Coalition, 2000).
6. Hunger and Homelessness Survey 2004, 1. U.S. Census Bureau, Poverty in the United States: 2001, P-60, no. 219: Table 1.
7. U.S. Conference of Mayors - Sodexho USA, December 2004.

International Facts on Hunger and Poverty

• Approximately 5 billion people live in the developing world. This world is made up of about 125 low and middle-income countries in which people generally have a lower standard of living with access to fewer goods and services than people in high-income countries. ₁
• Economically, the constant securing of food consumes valuable time and energy of poor people, allowing less time for work and earning income.₁
• 852 million people across the world are hungry, up from 842 million a year ago. ₁
• The combined wealth of the world’s richest people hit $1 trillion in 1999; the combined incomes of the 582 million people living in the 43 least developed countries is $146 billion. ₂
• Today, across the world, 1.3 billion people live on less than one dollar a day; 3 billion live on under two dollars a day; 1.3 billion have no access to to clean water; 3 billion have no access to sanitation; 2 billion have no access to electricity. ₃
• Counting near-poor families (below twice the poverty line), nearly 8 million low- income children lived in households that experienced hunger or severely crowded conditions, or that had their phone or utilities shut off.₄
• Effective debt relief to the 20 poorest countries would cost $5.5 billion- equivalent to the cost of building EuroDisney.₅
• Providing universal access to basic social services and transfers to alleviate income poverty would cost $80 billion, less than the net worth of the seven richest men in the world.₅

Source material:

1. Bread for the World Institute, Hunger Basics, World Hunger and Poverty: How They Fit Together
2. Global Issues, Poverty Facts and Stats
3. The Other Crisis, World Bank, October 1998, James Wolfenson, quoted from The Reality of Aid 2000, (Earthscan Publications, 2000), p.10
4. Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, Hunger, Crowding, and Other Hardships are Widespread among Families in Poverty, December 2004.
5. "Issues in Society": Foreign Aid and World Debt Volume 134; Editor: Justin Healey Year 2000

Health

• Of the world’s 23 million people living with HIV/AIDS, more than 93% live in developing countries. ₁
• The developing countries have one doctor per 6,000 inhabitants, compared with one doctor of 350 inhabitants in the industrialized countries.₁
• In Africa, the continent that numbers 33 of the 49 poorest countries in the world, 28.1 million people are living with HIV and AIDS. Over the next ten years, 40 million African children will lose their parents as a result of AIDS.₁
• 153 million children under 5 in the developing world are underweight. Worse yet, 11 million children younger than 5 die every year, more than half from hunger-related causes.₂
• Every year, more than 20 million low birth weight babies are born in developing countries. These babies risk dying in infancy, while those who survive often suffer lifelong physical and cognitive disabilities.₂
• Lack of dietary diversity and essential minerals and vitamins contributes to increased child and adult mortality. Vitamin A deficiency impairs the immune system, increasing the annual death toll form measles and other diseased by an estimated 1.3 million- 2.5 million children.₂
• Poor nutrition and calorie deficiencies cause nearly one in three people to die prematurely or have disabilities.₃
• In sub-Saharan Africa, one woman in 16 dies from pregnancy or childbirth, but only one woman in 4,000 dies in Western Europe. Most of these casualties could be prevented if women had access to basic medical care during pregnancy, childbirth and the post- partum period.₄
• Every year, more than 500,000 women die from complications of pregnancy and childbirth; 99 percent occur in the developing world.₅
• Almost 4 million babies die annually in the developing world during their first week of life. These deaths are often the result of limited prenatal health care and births spaced closely together.₅
• Measles, malaria and diarrhea are three of the biggest killers of children- yet all are preventable or treatable.₅
• More than 30 million children in the world are not immunized against treatable or preventable diseases.₅
• According to UNICEF:
  -640 million children do not have adequate shelter
  -500 million children have no access to sanitation
  -400 million children do not have access to safe water
  -300 million children lack access to information (TV, radio or newspapers)
  -270 million children have no access to health care services
  -140 million children, the majority of them girls, have never been to school
  -90 million children are severely food deprived
  -700 million children suffer from at least two or more of the deprivations.₆
• By 2003, 15 million children under the age of 18 had been orphaned by HIV/AIDS. Millions more live in households with sick and dying family members.₆

Source material:

1. United Nations Development Programme, Facts and Figures on Poverty
2. Bread for the World Institute, Hunger Basics
3. World Health Organization, Child Growth and Malnutrition: WHO Global Database on Child Growth and Malnutrition.
4. PlanetWire, Facts & Figures, Safe Motherhood Fact Sheet
5. Care USA, Facts about Children and Poverty
6. UNICEF, The Big Picture

Childcare

• In New York State, average annual cost of child care for a four-year -old in a center is $8,060 (average annual cost of public college tuition is $3,983 per year).₁
• 61 percent of children from birth to age six were in some form of child care. This includes over half of infants and toddlers and nearly three quarters of pre-school age children.₂
• 80 percent of employers report that child care problems force employees to lose work time.₂
• Salaries for child caregivers average a shockingly low $16,980 per year, and frequently they receive no benefits. In 30 states, teachers in child care centers are allowed to begin working with children before they receive any training in early child development.₂
• The United States is the only industrialized country without a nationwide system of child care for working parents.₂

Source material:

1. Children's Defense Fund, “Children in New York," January 2003
2. Parents’ Action for Children, Key Facts about Child Care in America

Education

• More than 840 million adults are illiterate- 538 million of them are women.₁
• Educated females are more likely to have smaller families and healthier, more educated children, but two-thirds of the world's 855 million illiterate adults are women.₂
• 134 million children between the ages of 7 to 18 have never been to school.₃
• An estimated 7 million children under the age of 14 are forced to work.₄

Source material:

1. United Nations Development Programme, Facts and Figures on Poverty
2. UNICEF, State of the World's Children Report 1999
3. Care USA, Facts about Children and Poverty
4. International Food Policy Research Institute, Facts on Hunger,Poverty, and Education

Homelessness

Ed. Note: Many of the statistics listed below are from studies of the homeless populations in urban areas. The characteristics of homeless populations in rural areas are very different. In addition, many of the homeless in rural populations are not actually homeless, but are living in terrible conditions.

• Approximately 1.35 million children in the United States are homeless every year
• Children make up one of the largest and fastest growing segments; 43% of the homeless population.

Source material:

1. Burt, Aron, Douglas, et al., Homelessness: Programs and the People They Serve: Summary Report - Findings of the National Survey of Homeless Assistance Providers and Clients, Washington, DC: The Urban Institute, 1999
2. U.S. Conference of Mayors, A Status Report on Hunger and Homelessness in America's Cities Washington, DC: 2000