Poverty in the world...

... mainly in the States, France and Romania.

The U.S. poverty rate has risen to 15.1%, the highest since 1983, the U.S. Census Bureau reports.

About 46.2 million people, or nearly one in six, were in poverty in 2010, compared with 43.6 million, or 14.3%, in 2009.

The statistics, contained in the report, titled "Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage: 2010," cover 2010, when U.S. unemployment averaged 9.6%, up from 9.3% the previous year.

Highlights:
- Median household income for the nation was $49,400 in 2010 (around 37 000 Euros, Soφ),, a decline of 2.3% from 2009, when inflation is figured in.
- The 2010 official poverty rate for the nation was 15.1%, up from 14.3% in 2009, with 46.2 million people in poverty, an increase of 2.6 million since 2009.
- The percentage of people without health insurance coverage in 2010, 16.3%, was not statistically different from the rate in 2009. The number of uninsured increased to 49.9 million in 2010 from 49 million in 2009.

The bureau says that if Social Security payments were excluded from income, the number of people 65 and over in poverty would be 14 million higher in 2010.

Trudi Renwick, the bureau's chief of the Poverty Statistics Branch, says "the single most important factor" in the increase in poverty might be the increase in the number of people who did not work at all last year.
She says the number of people over 16 who did not work at least one week increased from 83.3 million in 2009 to 86.7 million last year.

The increase in the number of people without health insurance is due mostly to working-age Americans who lost employer-provided insurance in the weak economy.

credits usa today

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Poverty in France
In France, there are between 4.5 and 8.2 million people living in poverty depending on the definition for poverty… Since 2002, poverty has been on the rise.

Current figures:
In France, there were 4.5 million people living in poverty in 2009 if you define the poverty threshold to be 50% of the median household income versus 8.2 million if you use 60%. In the first case, poverty rate is 7.5% and for the 2nd, 13.5%. In 2009, a poverty threshold at 60% represents 954 euros per month ($1,272 hence $25,440 median household income for a single person,Soφ) ie for a single person household and 795 euros a month at 50% (around $1,060 a month, Soφ).

Trend:
Poverty rate had been falling since the 70's til the mid-90's. Then, it was rather stable til the beginning the years 2000. Since 2002, the number of people living in poverty (50% threshold) has increased by 760,000 (+20%) and by 678,000 (+9%) for a 60% threshold. Rates went from 6.5 to 7.5% and 12.9 to 13.5%, respectively.

This is not an "explosion" per se and France remains amongst the countries in Europe with the fewer people in poverty. However, there is a distinct increasing trend. It marks an historical shift since the 60's. The slowdown in economy since 2009 would indicate that the situation has not improved since the last census.

translated by Soφ, from Observatoire des inégalités, August 30th 2011

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Romania at the top... of poverty

Among the 20 poorest regions of Europe, Romania appears 6 times, then comes Bulgaria with 5 regions, then Hungary and Poland with 4 each.

In Europe, on the subject of poverty, only Bulgaria beats Romania but this is no comfort for Romanians if you consider the mismatch in terms of potential and size between the two countries. In 6 out of 8 regions outlined in Romania for their rate of poverty, the situation is so severe that they remain at the top of the european list at the region level, according to the data published yesterday by Eurostat, the office for statistics in the European Union.

In 2008 (reference year of Eurostat report) the median income, expressed by GDP per capita, was around 25,100 euros in the EU whereas it was only 11,700 euros in Romania, ie 47% of the community index. But, this is the national median income, and there are regions were the income drops to 29% of the EU figure (north-eastern region ie counties Suceava, Botoşani, Neamţ, Iaşi, Bacău et Vaslui, with a GDP of 7,200 euros per capita).

Where does poverty come from?

Economic surveys of many countries around the world have proven that national economic performances can be influenced by natural resources, the education level of its population and public policies from the government. In Romania, we can see that natural resources are plenty enough, that the education level is rather high and yet, Romanian people are among the poorest in Europe...

No bathroom nor toilets

Another European chart where Romania appears at the top: percentage of housing without toilets (42,5% vs 3,5% in Europe) nor shower (41,2% vs 3,1% in Europe).

translated by Soφ, from adevarul.ro