%1

The poverty rate in the U.S. reached 14.3 percent in 2009—the highest level in 15 years. Another 4 million people dropped below the poverty line that year, bringing the total number of people in poverty to 43.6 million—the highest number since the late 1950s. The greatest increase in poverty is among children, with one in five affected. In 2008, more than a million American children went hungry, an increase of 56 percent over the previous year—and the figure is expected to climb even higher.