Poverty Down, But Not In NY

Poverty may have declined slightly this year across the nation [for the first time this decade], but in New York, the problem is only getting worse. According to the [U.S. Census Bureau's report on Income, Poverty and Health Insurance Coverage in the United States](http://www.census.gov/acs/www/) released earlier today, the nation's poverty rate last year declined by point-three points, to 12.3 percent. The number, however, still represents 36.5 million Americans, a staggering 35 percent of whom are children.

And despite the sort-of-good-news on the national front, according to the [New York City Coalition Against Hunger], the situation in the city is even worse. In 2006, the Coalition says, there were almost 1,550,000 people living in [poverty in the city](http://www.ny1.com/ny1/content/index.jsp?stid=1&aid=73038)—about 30,000 more than in 2005. The survey also found that there are more people in the country living without health insurance, with 47 million uninsured nationwide.

Photo courtesy of [jswieringa on Flickr]