Poverty Measures

Definition

The current definition of poverty is the Office of Management and Budget's Policy Directive 14: Definition of Poverty for Statistical Purposes, published in May 1978.    

Poverty Statistics

Statistics, as well as the poverty thresholds, were formerly available for patrons in Poverty in the United States, a Current Population Report kept on Quick Reference.  The Current Population Reports are moving to the Web and will not be available in print to depository libraries.  The latest poverty statistics are available in Poverty in the United States, 1996.  Earlier in Gov Docs Census Alcove, C 3.186/22:

Federal Poverty Measures

Federal poverty measures provide a range of income cutoffs adjusted by factors such as family size, sex of family head, and number of children under 18 years of age.

There are two different versions of the federal poverty measure,  poverty thresholds and poverty guidelines,  and they are used in different ways. Historical tables showing  both the poverty thresholds and poverty guidelines are published in the Annual Statistical Supplement of the Social Security Bulletin, in the Government Documents Stacks at HE 3.3/3:  

Poverty thresholds are used mainly for statistical purposes.

• Census Bureau Poverty Thresholds by Size of Family and Number of Children.

Poverty guidelines are issued in the Federal Register by the Department of Health and Human Services. These are a simplification of the poverty thresholds, and are used primarily by governmental agencies to determine financial eligibilty for programs.

• Health and Human Services Poverty Guidelines and Measurement.