Approximately fifteen percent of the national populace lives below the poverty line. This accounts for almost forty six million people in the country. The poverty line used for this assessment is an income of around twenty four thousand dollars per annum for a family that has four members. Poverty is unequivocally related to lack of opportunity and inequality. Hence, the states with the least income are also the most broke in the United States. Here are the ten brokest states in the U.S.
Mississippi
Mississippi is the most broke with a poverty rate of just over twenty four percent. Almost seven hundred thousand people in the state live below the current poverty line. The state is also the worst in terms of child poverty. This is pegged at almost thirty eight percent. Food insecurity and hunger continue to remain plaguing issues in the state. It is to be noted that the state of Mississippi has no minimum wage guaranteed by a state law. Alabama, South Carolina, Louisiana and Tennessee also don’t have any law pertaining to minimum wage. Unemployed citizens in Mississippi do not have any coverage under welfare programs of the state.
New Mexico
New Mexico is the second worst with a poverty rate of twenty two percent. As stated here, thirty-one percent of all children in the state live in poverty. A majority of them are also homeless. New Mexico also has the distinction of having the highest rate of teen birth in the United States. There are forty seven births per thousand women in the age group of fifteen to nineteen. The only silver lining is that very few children have to rely on foster care. Nine hundred and ninety six children in every thousand live with their parents in New Mexico.
Louisiana
Louisiana takes the third spot with a poverty rate of just below twenty percent. It is the worst state in terms of gender pay gap. Women earn three fifth of men do in similar positions and for the same type of work. Louisiana does not have a very high rate of unemployment. It is the parity of incomes that remains the main problem, not just between men and women but also between the rich and the poor.