For older Americans, the difficulties of poverty are amplified by soaring health care costs and the expected slow-down in employment that typically comes with aging. The official measure of poverty made by the federal government is based on a household's annual money income. By 1998, the older population living in poverty had declined to about 11 percent. While we hear much about how well older Americans are doing, the same percentage of older people and working people are poor. It is a national shame, however, that one out of every five children in the United States is in poverty.
Poverty increases among the elderly as they get older.
5 percent of the married are poor, and 17 percent of the non-married are poor. These figures do not tell the whole story. For example, nearly half of all divorced black women ages 65 to 74 are poor. While those living in poverty suffer the greatest deprivation, more older people are on the edge of poverty, with incomes less than 25 percent above the poverty line. If it were not for Social Security, these rates would be higher.