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Homelessness and Poverty Statistics Homelessness Statistics Homeless Statistics Approximately 3.5 million people, 1.35 million of them children, are likely to experience homelessness in a given year. A study done in 2003 found that children under the age of 18 accounted for 39% of the homeless population42% of these children were under the age of 5. Also, 25% of homeless were ages 25 to 34 and 6% were ages 55 to 64. In 2004, a survey by the U.S. Conference of Mayors found that single men comprised 41% of the homeless population and single women comprised 14%. Within the same study, out of 27 cities, the U.S. Conference of Mayor found that the homeless population was 49% African-American, 35% Caucasian, 13% Hispanic, 2% Native American, and 1% were Asian. Battered women who live in poverty are often forced to choose between abusive relationships and homelessness. In a study of 777 homeless parents (the majority of whom were mothers) in ten U.S. cities, 22% said they had left their last place of residence because of domestic violence Research indicates that 40% of homeless men have served in the armed forces, as compared to 34% of the general adult male population. Roughly 23% of the single adult homeless population suffers from some form of severe and persistent mental illness.
The official poverty rate in 2004 was 12.7 percent, up from 12.5 percent in 2003. 37.0 million people were in poverty, up 1.1 million from 2003. For children under 18 years old was17.8% (13 million) The poverty rate for children under 18 remained higher than that of 18-to-64-year-olds (11.3 percent) and that of people aged 65 and over (9.8 percent). Both the poverty rate and number in poverty increased for people 18 to 64 years old (11.3 %) 20.5 million .The poverty rate decreased for seniors aged 65 and older was 9.8 percent which is approximately 3.5 million. By region, the Midwest had 7.5 million and 11.6% people living in poverty. The Northeast (11.6%), South (14.1%), and West (12.6%) all were unchanged from 2003. The South continues to have the highest poverty rate. For families, 7.9 million were considered to
be of poverty status. Married couple families consisted of 5.5% (3.2
million), female-householder, no-husband present families were at
28.4 percent (4 million), and 13.5% (658,000) were male-householders
with no wife present. |
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