The United States Census Bureau has recently released a new report analyzing the demographic differences of older Americans who were living in poverty in 2021.
According to the report, the share of elder Black Americans over the age of 65 was significant higher than the parallel percentages of Black American elders not living in poverty. In 2021, about 17 percent of all elder adults living in poverty identified as Black. In comparison, Black Americans represented only 8.7 percent of all older adults living above the poverty line.
Conversely, White Americans represented some 55 percent of older adults living in poverty, but 77 percent of all older adults living above the poverty line. White Americans were the only racial group in the survey who had a larger share of older adults not in poverty compared to those living in poverty.
