Fewer seniors in US living in poverty

By Rick Armon

Beacon Journal staff writer

Fifty years after President Lyndon Johnson declared the War on Poverty, at least one group of Americans is much better off today: senior citizens.

The percentage of seniors nationwide living below the poverty line has plummeted from 27 percent to 9 percent today, according to a Beacon Journal analysis of census data.

“That is a success story,” said Harvey Sterns, director of the Institute for Life-Span Development and Gerontology at the University of Akron.

The sharp decline has occurred at the same time that the elderly population — defined as age 65 or older — has more than doubled in the country to 40.6 million people.

Today, there are 3.7 million seniors living in poverty, compared with 5.2 million in 1969, when the 1970 census was conducted.

The reasons are pretty simple, experts say: It’s a combination of Social Security, pensions, 401(k) programs and Medicare that have kept more elderly people from slipping into poverty.

Seniors also can continue working if they want today, as there are more nonlabor-intensive jobs available than decades ago.

However, the Kaiser Family Foundation released a report last year saying the 9 percent poverty figure is too rosy.

It noted that poverty rates for the elderly actually are higher under the supplemental poverty measure, which deducts health expenses from income. Using that standard, the foundation concluded, 15 percent of seniors are living in poverty ‘” still well below the number from decades ago.

The poverty gains also have leveled off over the past decade and — in some Ohio counties such as Cuyahoga, Medina and Summit — actually have crept up slightly since 2000.