Speaker 1 (00:00):

The United States, the world's richest country, it is also one of the most unequal 40 million people live in
poverty. That's around, 12% of the population. It has the highest poverty rate in the rich world. And three men
own as much wealth as the bottom half of the population. The good news is that poverty has decreased over the
past two years.

Speaker 1 (00:31):
But income inequality, has increased resulting in agrowing gap between the rich and the poor. Although the
cost of living varies from state to state, the poverty line is currently set at an annual household. Income of
twenty, five thousand one hundred dollars for a family of four. The wealthiest states are coastal with the South
having a higher concentration of poorer States. In Mississippi around, 20% of people live below the poverty
line,

Speaker 1 (01:04):
that's the highest percentage of any state in thecountry. In New Hampshire. It's less than half that. California and
Missouri have run the same percentage. Whereas poverty in neighboring, Virginia and West Virginia is poles,
apart. Poverty rates can wildly vary between towns within States. Take Paris, Texas, which has a rate of forty
one percent while in neighboring Reno,

Speaker 1 (01:32):
it's just three percent the wealth divide can also be seen fluctuating between blocks and even streets in different
blocks on separate sides of Ocean Parkway in Brooklyn, New York, the poverty rate is six times that of the
other Poverty. In America is not only geographical it's also racial African-Americans are more than twice as
likely to live in poverty than white Americans. But it's Native Americans who have the highest poverty rate of
any race in the country

Speaker 1 (02:04):
and this is even higher for those who live on reservations. Poverty declined in the majority of states in 2017
income growth, welfare programs or more jobs have led to the decline, but if the incomes of the top, 1%
continue to grow faster than those of the other 99%, the gap between the rich and the poor will continue to
widen.