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3.6M older Americans living in poverty
Quick Read3.6 million Americans 65 years and older are living in poverty; this doesn't count those living on the edge who are barely getting by.
Photo credit: iStock | In 2008, 3.6 million older Americans were living in poverty, according to the most recent statistics available. Many millions more are right on the edge.
We cannot take much comfort in the latest census figures on poverty among older Americans. It is true that the 2008 poverty rate, 9.7 percent among people 65 and older, was unchanged from 2007.
But that 9.7 percent, according to the census tables, represents about 3.6 million people who are living on $10,326 a year, or $14,051 for a couple. That probably means Social Security is their only...
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