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

Percent of US population living below the US poverty line

year200020012002200320042005200620072008200920102011201220132014201520162017
1. Series11.311.712.112.512.712.612.312.513.214.315.1151514.814.813.512.7

Percent of US population living below the US poverty line

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Global Metadata

This table provides information on metadata for SDG indicators as defined by the United Nations Statistical Commission. Complete global metadata documentation on all indicators in Goal 1, unless otherwise noted, is provided by the UN Statistics Division.

See UN metadata for 1.2.1

SDG Indicator Name Proportion of population living below the national poverty line, by sex and age
SDG Target Addressed 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.
Definition of SDG Indicator 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)

U.S. Metadata

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

Method of computation for global SDG indicator 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).
Graph Title Percent of US population living below the US poverty line
Actual indicator available Proportion of population living below the US poverty line.
Description of actual indicator available 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.
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.
Periodicity Annual
Time Period 2000-2016
Unit of measure Proportion of noninstitutionalized persons in the U.S.
Disaggregation #1 (Industry or social categories) Sex
Disaggregation #2 (Geographical coverage) Age
Date of public data release from National source September 2017
Date of last Update of This Page October 2017
Scheduled Update by National source September 2018
Scheduled Update by SDG Team September 2017
Data Source1 (Agency STAFF NAME) Poverty Statistics Branch, SEHSD, U.S. Census Bureau
Data Source2 (Staff E-MAIL) brian.e.glassman@census.gov
Data Source3 (Agency/Survey/Dataset name) Current Population Survey Annual Social and Economic Supplement
Indicator web address (closest to data provided) http://www.census.gov/cps/data/cpstablecreator.html
International and National References