Poverty Wisespread in the Elderly

There's no doubt that poverty and homelessness is a growing problem in America. However, it appears that poverty is especially evident in elderly people. Nearly one in adults over the age of 65 live in a family with income below the official U.S. poverty line. Twenty percent of older adults who are black or Hispanic are poor, and poverty hits people with limited education and those who are not married especially hard. In an article by AARP, experts discuss this issue.

The fact that 3.7 million older adults do not have sufficient cash income to meet their basic expenses too often escapes attention. By most accounts, elderly poverty is a problem we have largely solved. Since 1968 the poverty rate among adults age 65 and older has declined by about a third, falling from 25 percent in 1968 to 9.7 percent in 2008. In contrast, poverty among younger adults, and especially among children, has risen in recent decades even as a national prosperity, real gross domestic product per capita, has grown. But poverty-particularly poverty among the elderly- is mismeasured and poverty rates are still unacceptably high, especially for certain groups of older Americans.

 The main reason that so many elderly are forced into poverty is due to the unaffordable cost of housing. After retiring, people no longer have a steady source of income high enough to pay for necessities. Along with medication many elderly people have to buy, it's no wonder that so many old people are on welfare checks. This is not a problem that we can solve easily but with the right programs, the government can help alleviate this issue.