Some Facts about Hunger

These are just some miscellaneous facts that I found about hunger that didn't fit into any of the other categories.

Poverty line for a family of four as set by the US Census Bureau and the US Department of Health and Human Services: $16,400

Median income of all poor families: $10,300

Minimum wage as of September 1997, after two years of phased-in increases raised it from $4.25 per hour: $5.15 per hour

Annual salary for a full-time worker earning a minimum wage: $10,712

Percentage of Americans who are poor: 13.3

Percentage of poor Americans who are children under 18: 40

Percentage of US children who are poor: 20

Percentage of single mothers who are poor: 41

Percentage of elderly Americans who are poor: 10

Percentage of elderly Americans who were poor in 1960, before

Social Security cost-of-living increases and Medicare: 35

Percentage of white Americans who are poor: 11

Percentage of African Americans who are poor: 26.5

Percentage of Latino/as who are poor: 27

Percentage of working poor making $7 or less per hour who lack medical insurance: 43

Budget of AFDC (now TANF) in 1997: $16 billion

Budget of the Defense Department in 1997: $248.7 billion

Information from the US Census Bureau report, October 1, 1998, and the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities