Recently released data (for 2005) on poverty in the U.S. offer an interesting picture of the state of poverty in the SRDC region:
As the accompanying map reveals, 11 of the 13 SRDC states had poverty rates for individuals that exceeded the national average of 13.3% in 2005. Only Florida and Virginia had rates below the national poverty figure (click here to see the state-level poverty data in the SRDC region)
The poverty rate for the SRDC region stood at 14.6 in 2005, up from 13.1% in 2000.
The number of people in poverty in the SRDC South swelled to over 14.8 million in 2005, an increase of 2.8 million persons since 2000 (which translates into a hike of nearly 24% since 2000).
The SRDC is home to 465 high poverty counties (i.e., counties with poverty rates for individuals of 20% or higher). These counties represent three-fourths of all high poverty counties (i.e., 610) in the U.S.
Poverty has worsened in the group of 465 “high poverty” counties of the South. About 3.1 million individuals living in the region’s high poverty counties were poor in 2000. That number has now reached over 3.8 million (an increase of 22% since the beginning of the decade).
