| Description: |
Poverty rates among the elderly have declined sharply over the past 50 years. Census data show that the frac-tion of Americans ages 65 and over with incomes below the poverty level declined from 35 percent in 1959 to just over 10 percent in 2002 (Bureau of the Census 2005). In contrast, the poverty rate for all Americans declined over the same period at a much slower rate, from 22 per-cent to 13 percent, making older Americans less likely than others to live in poverty. The expansion of the Social Security program has contributed significantly to lower poverty among older Americans; in 2002, Social Security benefits were 83 percent of income for Amer-icans over age 65 in the bottom income quintile (Social Security Administration 2004). There is concern, how-ever, that increasing earnings inequality among today’s workers, higher divorce rates, the erosion of defined benefit pension plans, and a lower Social Security replacement rate could raise poverty rates among the elderly in the future.1 |