Sustainable Development Goals - 17 Goals to Transform our World
No poverty - Goal 1

End poverty in all its forms everywhere

Indicator 1.2.1: Proportion of population living below the national poverty line, by sex and age

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Percent of US population living below the US poverty line

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Headline data

Year Value
2000 11.3
2001 11.7
2002 12.1
2003 12.5
2004 12.7
2005 12.6
2006 12.3
2007 12.5
2008 13.2
2009 14.3
2010 15.1
2011 15.0
2012 15.0
2013 14.8
2014 14.8
2015 13.5
2016 12.7
2017 12.3

This table provides metadata for the actual indicator available from US statistics closest to the corresponding global SDG indicator. Please note that even when the global SDG indicator is fully available from US statistics, this table should be consulted for information on national methodology and other US-specific metadata information.

Actual indicator available Proportion of population living below the US poverty line.
Actual indicator available - description Proportion of men, women, and children living in poverty. Only includes people in poverty universe: people not living in institutions and excludes nonrelated children under the age of 15. Disaggregation is provided by sex and age.
Date of national source publication September 2018
Method of computation Calculated by dividing the number of persons living in households below the poverty line (disaggregated by sex, age and employment status) by the total number of persons (disaggregated by the same sex, age and employment status groups).
Periodicity Annual
Scheduled update by national source September 2019
U.S. method of computation Please see http://www.census.gov/topics/income-poverty/poverty/guidance/poverty-measures.html.
Comments and limitations Income questions were redesigned in the 2014 CPS ASEC (which covers 2013). The values shown reflect calculations using the redesigned income questions.
Date metadata updated May 2019
Disaggregation geography Age
Unit of measurement Proportion of noninstitutionalized persons in the U.S.
Disaggregation categories Sex
International and national references
Time period 2000-2016
Scheduled update by SDG team Fall 2019

This table provides information on metadata for SDG indicators as defined by the UN Statistical Commission. Complete global metadata is provided by the UN Statistics Division.

Indicator name Proportion of population living below the national poverty line, by sex and age
Target name By 2030, reduce at least by half the proportion of men, women and children of all ages living in poverty in all its dimensions according to national definitions.
Global indicator description This indicator provides the proportion of the total population and the proportion of the employed population living in households with per-capita consumption or income that is below the national poverty line.
UN designated tier 1
UN custodial agency World Bank (Partnering Agencies: UNICEF)
Link to UN metadata UN metadata opens in a new window
Organisation Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement
Agency Staff Name Poverty Statistics Branch, SEHSD, U.S. Census Bureau
Agency Survey Dataset Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement
Notes
Title
Link to data source http://www.census.gov/cps/data/cpstablecreator.html opens in a new window