Download Poverty Statistics

POVERTY STATISTICS
United States:
• Nationwide, 17 per cent of children live in poverty.
• The highest rates of extreme poverty are concentrated in the south and poverty is especially
prevalent among black and Latino children.
• Food insecurity, lack of affordable housing and other economic hardships affect millions of
American children.
• Canada:
• Across the country, about 15 per cent of children live under the poverty line (1.2 million, or
almost 1 in every 6 children).
• In 2005, 40.7 per cent of food bank clients were under 18 years. Among food bank clients,
families with children make up more than 50 per cent of recipients. The number of people using
a food bank in one month in 2005: 823,856.
Note:
Population of the United States: roughly 300 million
Population of Canada: roughly 32 million
The Global Picture:
• One-third of deaths—some 18 million people a year or 50, 000 a day—are due to povertyrelated causes.
• 600 million of the world’s children live in absolute poverty.
• 800 million people go to bed hungry every day.
• Every year, almost 11 million children die before their fifth birthday. That’s 30,000 children a
day. Most of these children live in developing countries and die from a disease or a combination
of diseases that could be prevented or treated if the means were there. Sometimes, the cause
is as simple as the lack of antibiotics for treating pneumonia or oral rehydration salts for
diarrhea. Malnutrition contributes to over half of these deaths.
• According to the Worldwatch Institute the annual expenditure of pet food in Europe and the
United States is $17 billion. With an annual investment of $19 billion, we can eliminate global
hunger and malnutrition.