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Data Report 5
High Country
Demographics and Statistics
This is the fifth in a continuing
series of articles meant to provide demographic data
and statistics to local officials and local interests
to assist in their decision-making efforts.
Poverty in the
High Country 2000-2003
Definition of Poverty
The Federal Government measures poverty from two distinctive
perspectives: poverty thresholds and poverty guidelines.
Poverty thresholds are maintained by the Census Bureau
and are used primarily for statistical purposes, such
as estimating the numbers of people deemed to be living
in poverty. This system is based on size of the household
unit and the number of related children under 18 years
of age within the family. There is also consideration
as to whether or not the householder is at least 65
years of age.
Poverty guidelines are
issued in the Federal Register annually by the
Department of Health and Human Services and are used
for determining financial eligibility for various government
programs. Poverty guidelines do take household size
into consideration, but do not differentiate on the
ages of the householder or its members . There are also
separate sets of calculations for Alaska and Hawaii.
The
Numbers
This report uses population estimates for July 1st of
2000 and 2003 in order to make comparisons for the span.
These figures are derived by the Census Bureau using
the April 1, 2000 Census and applying a model for moving
the national population ahead to July 1. That calculation
is further manipulated to estimate how many of the 'new'
citizens would reside in North Carolina, and then again
to place those new North Carolinians into its component
counties. This process is repeated in successive years
to produce the 2003 estimate.
Figures for the High Country
see a population growth at one-third the rate for the
State as a unit and a poverty rate that exceeds that
of the State for both years of comparison. Optimistically,
the difference in poverty rates narrowed from 2000 to
2003. The proportions of how many people are estimated
to be living in poverty that are below 18 years of age
are roughly 40% in both the State and High Country.
A median is the middle
instance of an occurrence in a continuum, such as the
number 5 being the middle digit of the numbers from
1 to 9. It indicates that there are an equal number
of a phenomenon both above and below this point. It
is often used as a measure of income to dispel averages
that may be skewed by uncharacteristically high or low
figures.
Median household income
in the High Country is estimated to have declined in
6 of the 7 counties between 2000 and 2003 while it is
to have risen by over $500 for all of North Carolina.
What's
in a Number
A previous article in this series based on State Demographer
projections concluded that the High Country will continue
to be a smaller and smaller proportion of the State's
total population in the immediate future. This three-year
span of estimates by the Census Bureau noting the expected
population growth for the Region compared to the State
would tend to support that contention.
While poverty can be at
least partly subjective, using an applied objective
standard that is recognized by the Federal Government,
the High Country has a greater share of its citizens
living in poverty than the North Carolina average. This
has potential implications on the need for various type
of human assistance.
A decline in median family
income in six of seven counties would account for some
of the increases in poverty levels measured now but
also would tend to mean that there are more folks that
are just a couple of hours' pay a week above that line.
For
further information:
The Bureau of the Census has its thresholds going back
to 1980 at http://www.census.gov/hhes/poverty/threshld.html
.
The population
estimates were obtained from http://www.census.gov/popest/counties/CO-EST2004-01.html.
Poverty figures by State,
County, and school district can be found at http://www.census.gov/hhes/www/saipe/index.html
. (State and County 1989, 1993, 1995-2003) School District
1995, 1997, 1999-2003)
Poverty guidelines from
1982 to 2005 are available from Health and Human Services
at http://aspe.hhs.gov/poverty/figures-fed-reg.shtml
.
Data
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