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| Poverty Measurement Studies and Alternative Measures |
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The poverty thresholds listed here have been calculated following the recommendations in the 1995 NAS publication on poverty measurement. Beginning in 1999 the Census Bureau has published estimates of poverty rates based on these thresholds, or made them available on the Internet. Descriptions of these calculations are found in two reports on Experimental Poverty Measures (1999, 2001). These reports describe the basis for the calculation of the FCSU-CE and the FCSUM-CE thresholds in the table below. The term FCSUM represents the groups of items deemed as necessary expenditures by the NAS report; food, clothing, shelter, utilities, and medical expenditures.
The final two columns of thresholds differ from the earlier thresholds by including the shelter expenditures for mortgage principal payments. The FCSU-CE and FCSUM-CE thresholds omitted these amounts for processing convenience. For further details see Garner and Short, 2008.
Click here for threshold tables » (xls, 19k)
Citro, Constance F., and Robert T. Michael (eds.), Measuring Poverty: A New Approach,Washington, D.C.: National Academy Press, (1995).
Short, Kathleen, Thesia Garner, David Johnson, and Patricia Doyle, Experimental Poverty Measures: 1990 to 1997, U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Reports, Consumer Income, P60-205, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC, (1999).
Short, Kathleen, Experimental Poverty Measures: 1999, U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Reports, Consumer Income, P60-216, U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, DC, (2001).
Creating a Consistent Poverty Measure over Time Using NAS Procedures: 1996-2005
(Thesia I. Garner and Kathleen Short, April 2008) [PDF]
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