The poverty level in New York in 1960-1999
Poverty can be defined as the state of a person or a group of people
that lacks a specified amount of money or material possessions.
The World Bank defines poverty more specifically as follows: “Poverty is
pronounced deprivation in well-being, and comprises many dimensions. It
includes low incomes and the inability to acquire the basic goods and
services necessary for survival with dignity. Poverty also encompasses
low levels of health and education, poor access to clean water and
sanitation, inadequate physical security, lack of voice, and
insufficient capacity and opportunity to better one’s life.”
The impressive economic growth of the United States over the 20th
century was unquestionable. Established as the land of the free, the
United States has provided the economic stage for many to craft out
their slice of the American dream. More questionable was that about 32 percent of New Yorkers lived in poverty despite this national wealth. The reasons are in instability economic situations, a few jobs, no social salaries, no unlimited access to edication. However, the
acceptance that poverty for some is an unfortunate consequence of free
markets was present among a strong majority of the population. After all, the nature of competition is that there must be losers.
The poverty rate in the U.S. greatly varies across different ethnic groups.
While only 5.1 percent of the white population lived below the poverty
line in 1960, the poverty rates for Blacks and Hispanics were 44.1 and 51.4 percent respectively.
Shares of household income of quintiles in the United States from 1970
In the United States the national poverty level is calculated by tripling
the inflation-adjusted cost of a minimum food diet in 1963 and
adjusting for family size, composition and the age of the householder.
In relation to extreme poverty, those with a level of income less than
50 percent of the poverty level are considered to be in deep poverty.
The reduction of social welfare in the early 1980s removed sections of the safety net stopping people from falling into poverty.
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