WASHINGTON, Oct. 6 (Xinhua) -- A study released Friday showed that severe poverty has worsened in 2016, rising to almost half of all those living in poverty.
Severe poverty, which is defined as those with income below half of the poverty level, makes up 45.6 percent of all those impoverished population, the highest point in 20 years, according to an analysis by Pew Research Center.
Severe poverty rate was 39.5 percent in 1996, the U.S. Census Bureau said.
According to the Census Bureau, the poverty level in 2016 was put at 12,000 U.S. dollars for single-person families and 25,000 dollars for a family of four.
The median household income for all households was 59,039 dollars in 2016, and 75,062 dollars for family households.
The analysis also revealed that not only the percentage of those in severe poverty has been steadily rising, those in the most extreme cases also saw their income fall further below the poverty line.
The average income difference between those in severe poverty and the poverty line was 10,505 dollars in 2016, up from 9,509 dollars in 2000.
The trend was coupled with a dip in overall poverty rate, which was 12.7 percent last year, close to the pre-recession level of 12.5 percent in 2007.
