Census: 12.5% of Mainers in poverty
Nearly 13% of the state's population lives in poverty, while 9% of residents lack health insurance, according to new numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau.
About 161,000 Mainers, or 12.5% of the state's population, lived in poverty in 2010, The Associated Press reported. The poverty rate was an increase from 2009's 11.4%, but Maine's rate was still lower than the national average of 15.1%. Christopher St. John, outgoing executive director of the Maine Center for Economic Policy, told the news service that the recession and high unemployment are the chief causes of the rise in poverty levels. Nearly one in six Americans, or 46.2 million, lived in poverty last year.
Additionally, about 121,000 Mainers, or 9.4%, lacked health insurance in 2010, a slight improvement over 2009's rate of 9.9%. Maine is one of six states with the highest health insurance coverage rates. Nationally, 16.3% of the population lacked health insurance in 2010, relatively unchanged from 2009. The number of Americans without health insurance last year reached 49.9 million, the most in more than two decades.
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