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Measuring Poverty: A New Approach
of poor people as the current measure, but they are not all the same people. Under the proposed measure, 7.4 million people are moved out of poverty, and 7.4 million are moved into poverty. That is, the proposed measure has significant effects on the composition of the poor population, changing about 20 percent of that population. Table 1-6 shows these changes for groups categorized by age, race, ethnicity, receipt of cash welfare, work status, health insurance status, and region of residence. This table also shows the poverty rates for each group under the current and proposed measures.
The greatest effect of the proposed measure is to decrease the percentage
TABLE 1-6 Poverty Statistics, 1992: Current Measure and Proposed Measure, Keeping the Overall Poverty Rate Constant
Population Group
Percent of Total Population
Percent of Poor Population
Poverty Rate for Population Group (%)
Current Measure
Proposed Measure
Current Measure
Proposed Measure
Age
Children under 18
26.3
39.6
39.2
21.9
21.7
Adults 18–64
61.5
49.6
51.8
11.7
12.2
Adults 65 and older
12.2
10.8
9.0
12.9
10.8
Race
White
83.6
66.8
69.3
11.6
12.0
Black
12.5
28.6
25.7
33.2
29.8
Other
3.9
4.6
5.1
17.4
19.1
Ethnicity
Hispanic
8.9
18.1
20.9
29.4
34.0
Non-Hispanic
91.1
81.9
79.1
13.1
12.6
Welfare Status of Family
Receiving cash welfare
9.9
40.4
29.9
59.4
44.0
Not receiving welfare
90.1
59.6
70.1
9.6
11.3
Work Status of Family
One or more workers
81.1
50.8
58.9
9.1
10.6
No workers
18.9
49.2
41.1
37.9
31.7
Health Insurance Status of Family
No health insurance
13.7
30.1
35.7
32.0
37.9
Some health insurance
86.3
69.9
64.3
11.8
10.8
Region of Residence
Northeast
20.0
16.9
18.9
12.3
13.8
Midwest
24.0
21.7
20.2
13.1
12.2
South
34.4
40.0
36.4
16.9
15.4
West
21.6
21.4
24.5
14.4
16.5
NOTE: In the first, second, and third columns, the percentages for the categories within each characteristic (age, race, etc.) add to 100; in the last two columns, the percentages (rates) apply to each category individually. See text for thresholds used.
