Poverty Levels among Blacks Nearly Twice that of Whites over the Past 16 Years
By: Gokul Menon January, 21, 2020
Poverty in the U.S. continues to affect people of color. Ever since the civil rights movement of the 1950s, attempts have been made to resolve this problem. African Americans have come a long way since then in terms of education and employment. But, as Gavop’s research indicates, there continues to be a significant gap among racial lines.
In 2007, 19.8 percent of the Black population was in poverty. From 2007 to 2013, for a period of six years, this number kept increasing, reaching 23.9 percent, both in 2012 and 2013. During this period, the percentage of Whites in poverty had also steadily gone up, but only reaching a maximum of 11.9 percent in 2011. This figure was the same as that of the Asian population in poverty.
One positive we can take out of this study is that the percentage of African Americans in poverty has come down to the lowest figure in the last 16 years. It stands at 17.5 percent as of 2018. This is still 8.1 percent higher than that of Whites and Asians.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Gokul Menon
Gokul works as a writer at Gavop. He holds an M.A. in Comparative Literature from the University of Hyderabad and a Bachelor’s in English from Madras Christian College. He has been a part of a couple of theatre groups, like Masquerade Youth Theatre and Theatre No. 59 and enjoyed being a part of Literary and Debating circles in Chennai. Gokul is an avid reader and has presented a few academic papers. He spends more time on Goodreads, than on any other social media platform.
