One million join ranks of US poor

The number of Americans who slid into poverty last year rose despite US economic growth, official data shows.

Figures from the US Census Bureau show that the ranks of the poor grew by 1.3 million people to 35.9 million.

The Bureau's annual report also found that the level of health care coverage also dropped, while incomes remained essentially stagnant.

News of the rise in poverty is certain to fuel criticism of President George W Bush ahead of this year's elections.

The government bureau's definition of the poverty varies depending on household size - the threshold for a family of four is an annual income of $18,810 and $9,393 for a single person.

According to the annual survey the US poverty rate rose to 12.5% from 12.2% in 2002.

Downward slope

The figures could provide plenty of ammunition for critics of the Bush administration in the run-up to the 2 November election, as the poverty rate has been rising since 2000 when he took office.

According to the group's statistics the poverty rate had been on a downward slope since 1993.

The increase also coincides with a recovery in the world's largest economy which ground to a halt in 2000.

Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry said the numbers provided evidence that President Bush's economic policies have failed.

"Under George Bush's watch, America's families are falling further behind," he added.

However, Census Bureau analyst Dan Weinberg said the results were typical of a post-recession period, adding that the rise in the number of people without health insurance was due to the uncertain job picture.

The figures will provide ammunition for President Bush's critics

"Certainly the long-term trend is firms offering less generous (benefit) plans, and as people lose jobs they tend to lose health insurance coverage," he argued.

The survey also noted that while more people lost insurance, an extra one million Americans actually had cover in 2003.

Almost 45 million - or 15.6% of the population - had no health insurance in 2003, up from 43.5 million in 2002, although the increase was smaller than had been seen in the two previous years.

Elsewhere, median or middle-of-the-range household income, when adjusted for inflation, remained flat last year at $43,318.

Ethnic differences

While wage figures were little change inequality remained across the population.

Inequality among ethnic groups also remained.

Hispanics fared the worst with a 2.6% drop in average incomes to $32,997.

Whites, blacks and Asians saw no noticeable change, but Asians had the highest income at $55,699 closely followed by whites with $47,777 a year.

Blacks remained at the bottom of the pay scale earning an average of $30,000.

Poverty rates also remained unchanged for blacks and Hispanics, while it increased for whites and Asians.

However, the Bureau did concede that the number of Hispanics living below the bread line had risen from 1.2 million to 1.4 million.