EMBARGOED UNTIL: 12:01 A.M. EDT, JULY 9, 1999 (FRIDAY)
Public Information Office CB99-130
301-457-3030/301-457-3670 (fax)
301-457-1037 (TDD)
e-mail: pio@census.gov
Kurt Bauman
301-457-2464
One in Five People Had Difficulty Satisfying
Basic Needs in 1995, Census Bureau Reports
In 1995, about 49 million people -- about 1 in 5 -- lived in a
household whose members had difficulty satisfying basic needs, according
to a report released today by the Commerce Department's Census Bureau.
The report, Extended Measures of Well-Being: Meeting Basic Needs, 1995,
P70-67 takes a look at households who didn't make mortgage or rent
payments, failed to pay utility bills and/or had service shut off, didn't
get enough to eat, needed to see a doctor or dentist but didn't or
otherwise could not meet essential expenses.
"For most of those who had difficulty meeting a basic need in 1995, it
was not an isolated incident," said report author Kurt Bauman. "More than
half (54 percent) experienced more than one of these problems."
Other key findings:
- More than one-third (18.1 million) of all people living in households
with unmet basic needs were children (under 18 years old).
- More than one quarter of children (29 percent) lived in a household
in which someone reported difficulty meeting at least one basic need,
compared with fewer than 1 in 10 of those ages 70 and over.
- About 1 in 20 people (5 percent) lived in a household whose members
sometimes did not get enough to eat.
- Lack of health insurance strongly increased the probability that a
person in the household who needed to see a doctor did not. While only
3 percent of the insured population lived in a household where needed
medical care was not obtained, 15 percent of those without health
insurance failed to obtain such care.
- Seventeen percent of people who experienced difficulties meeting
basic needs in their households said they received help from others.
Help was most likely to come from family, friends and community
organizations (13 percent); government agencies provided help to 5
percent.
The report's data were collected by the Survey of Income and Program
Participation. As in all surveys, the data are subject to sampling
variability and other sources of error.
-X-
