[jeffrey]

The US poverty rate increased for the fourth year in a row to 12.7% of the population according to newly released data from the Census Bureau. There are currently some 37 million people living in poverty, up 1.1 million from 2003.

The poverty level is calculated depending on the size and makeup of a household. A $19,157 or less income was considered the poverty level for a family of two parents and two children. $12,649 was the poverty level for a family of two adults while $9060 is considered the poverty level a single person over 65.




Those without health insurance also rose an additional 859,000 from 2003 to 45.8 million people in 2004. The percentage of uninsured people in the US is now at 15.7%.

The median household income (the point where half the households earn less and half earn more) also remained the same as in 2003 at $44,389.